Spells and Originals
by tvd-fan-klefan-lover
Summary: Lame title, I know . . When Damon wakes up one morning something feels wrong. It turns out someone has turned him into a girl. Will he be able to deal with this or will he self-destruct? And will a certain Original be able to help him adapt or will things blow up in their faces? Lame summary too, I know . .
1. Something's Wrong

**A/N: **I get really bored some days. That's about all I have to say. Please review, even if you want to flame it, loves 3

**Disclaimer:** I do not own The Vampire Diaries, otherwise a: Ric would be alive, b: He and Damon would be canon and c: Stefan and Klaus would be canon too! I'm in an anti-Elena phase

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Damon yawned widely, slowly getting out of bed. Something felt strange but the vampire put it down to far too much drinking the night before and stumbled to the bathroom, icy blue eyes still half-closed. As he passed the mirror he froze for a second but quickly turned and moved closer.

The eyes looking back were the same but the face was wrong. The lips were too plump, cheekbones all wrong, hair falling way too far down the face. Damon Salvatore stared into the mirror in shock, the girl meeting his eyes looking just about as confused as he felt.

He stumbled back, looking down at the slender body in horror. This wasn't right. The boxers he had worn to bed were almost falling off his hips, black shirt stretched over what was undeniably a pair of breasts.

"Son of a fucking bitch!" he snarled, stopping short when he heard the voice. It almost sounded like the fucking Barbie vamp's did and Damon stormed back to his room, grabbing his jeans from the floor and tugging them on quickly.

It had to be Judgy. No one else would be dumb enough to do this to him, to Damon Salvatore. No one else was brave enough to fuck with his body. He stalked to the door, hating the way the hem of his jeans almost tripped him, before heading right for Stefan's room. There was no way he was confronting the stupid Bennet witch in this body. He'd send his brother and if he didn't agree he'd make his life a living hell.

The door swung open under his touch, slamming into the bookshelf and startling Stefan awake. His sleep-clogged green eyes looked at the girl in front of him, not even registering the fact she was wearing Damon's clothes or his ring. He just assumed it was one of the many girls Damon had fucked, fed off, and compelled.

"Damon's not here, wrong room," Stefan yawned, running his fingers through his messy hair.

Damon glared, storming over to the bed as his jeans slipped a little more, making the vampire stumble embarrassingly and almost fall onto his brother's bed. He caught himself on his too-slender hands before scrambling to sit, giving Stefan a glare he had mastered.

"Look, I know you're a moron and everything, but can you just believe me when I say that I am your brother and that judgy little Bennet witch turned me into a fucking girl? If you don't, I'll make sure nothing goes right for you for the rest of the century!" Damon snarled, reaching out to grab his brother by the throat.

Stefan reached up instinctively, twisting the thin wrist sharply and pulling the hand away. The chunky ring caught his attention and he frowned darkly, holding the girl as still as he could as he inspected the ring. It was Damon's daylight ring, slipping on the thin finger, and he looked into the pissy blue eyes in shock.

"Damon? What happened?" Stefan breathed, sitting up and cupping the girl's face in his hands.

The elder frowned before pushing the hands away, retaliating, "I just told you! Judgy turned me into a girl. What the fucking hell are we meant to do?"

"I think we need to call Caroline or Elena and borrow some clothes."

The answer was serious but it still earned a smack from Damon and another death glare. Despite the girl's complaints Stefan called Caroline, asking if she could bring over some clothes she didn't wear too often for a friend. The younger would've told her the truth but when Damon threw a glass at him he decided it was safer just to say 'friend'.

The blonde vampire Stefan had taken under his wing promised she'd be there as soon as she could, claiming she needed to talk to her mum quickly first. At Damon's annoyed glare he added that sooner was definitely better and she said she'd hurry.

Damon was sitting on the couch, drinking her way through all the bourbon in the house. Stefan was busy keeping an eye on her while watching the door at the same time. When Caroline got there with a bag of clothes her eyes saw the woman on the couch, glass of bourbon in her slim hand. Her eyes narrowed slightly in confusion but she didn't comment, letting Stefan take the bag of clothes and toss it to the pale girl.

"So, whose you friend Stefan? I haven't seen her before," Caroline ventured, hoping neither of them snapped at her for he question.

The two exchanged glances, just like Damon and Stefan did and the blonde frowned deeper. Her eyes skimmed the woman, noticing the similarities between her and the Salvatore that had compelled her what felt like so long ago. They both held themselves the same way, cocky and self-assured, they were drinking the same bourbon, and they were both pale with the same gorgeous blue eyes.

Stefan started to answer before Caroline blurted, "Damon! You're Damon, aren't you? What happened? How'd you get turned into a girl?"

The woman growled lowly, downing her drink and snapping, "Ask your witchy little friend! Only a witch could've done this. Maybe Emily asked her to do it, Bennet's do anything for family and Emily does hate me."

The blonde stared, still shocked and surprised, before giggles burst out of her. Another snarl met that before Caroline was slammed against the wall, the dark-haired vampire baring her fangs menacingly. The younger Salvatore leapt forward instantly, grabbing the girl's shoulder and tugging Damon back desperately. She struggled, trying to throw her brother off, but with Caroline pushing her back and Stefan tugging her the same way Damon couldn't win and let herself get pulled off.

"This isn't funny. I'm a fucking girl and if you don't get Bonnie to change me back I will rip her throat out before you can blink," Damon snapped darkly, storming to the couch and grabbing the bag before blurring upstairs.

Caroline looked at Stefan, eyes wide, before asking, "So, can you explain what's going on? Cause I don't think Bonnie did it."

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Love it? Hate it? Let me know 3

~Klefan-Lover


	2. Alcohol and Scents

**A/N: **So, chapter two! Sorry it kind of cuts off, I wanted to get this out to my reviewers. And thank you all so much! Even if you are a bit iffy about this chapter (I am too), knowing you liked it enough to read means a lot to me.

I'll be replying to all reviews for a more personalized thank you on all my stories because it really does mean a lot to know someone likes my writing. Cheers lovies

**Disclaimer:** I do not own The Vampire Diaries, otherwise this would've happened already. Dead serious. And Ric would be alive and Meredith wouldn't have been making eyes at him and he wouldn't have gone evil

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Damon stayed locked in her room, having raided the whole of the house's alcohol supply before she locked the door. Stefan called Elena and Bonnie and asked them to come over, at a total loss for what to do. His annoying, cocky, occasionally disgusting douchebag brother was a girl. He-she was holed up in his room, drinking herself into a stupor, and there was nothing he could do.

"So Damon's a girl now?" Elena asked quietly, sounding a little too upset about it for Stefan's taste but he didn't do anything but nod.

Her brown eyes watered before she turned to Bonnie, begging, "You have to change him back Bonnie. He might kill himself if he's stuck like this!"

The Bennet witch gave her a stern look, admonishing, "I didn't do this Elena. I can't change Damon back without the original spell and even if I could I don't think I would. Someone did this for a reason and it's not my job to fix it. I'm sorry Elena but I can't change him back."

Stefan scowled as Elena's eyes watered even more, fed up with her reaction to this. He knew full well she was more like Katherine then he had first thought with the way she strung both of them along and was seriously sick of it.

He turned to Caroline and Bonnie, completely ignoring Elena, and asked, "Is there anything you could do to get him – I mean, her – to do something besides drink? It's not good for her."

The two girls exchanged glances before Caroline sighed, "Its Damon. He's not going to listen to either of us Stefan. You're his brother. You talk to him."

"But I can't look at her and think, 'Oh yeah, it's Damon'. I don't see my brother when I look at her Caroline."

No one thought Damon might be listening to them. She was locked in her room, drinking, and none of them considered for a second she would bother listening to them. Despite the overwhelming anger she had shown Stefan over the years he was still her brother. Damon hated him sometimes but that didn't mean that hearing him announce that because of some spell they may as well not be related in his eyes didn't hurt.

It wasn't safe in town anymore, not with a family of Originals wandering the streets. None of them would hesitate to kill him – her – and Damon knew it but she didn't care. She just wanted out of this house. Without another thought she grabbed the leather jacket that had miraculously survived all the dangerous situations she had gotten herself in and pulled it on, stalking down the stairs and walking right out the door. People were calling after her but she didn't stop, running as fast as she could through the woods and to town. She needed to kill something.

People were wandering the town, smelling delicious and tempting, but she was careful with her choice. If she recognised the person she passed them over, finally settling on a man that definitely had a tourist vibe to him. His blood was sour and bitter but feeling him die still managed to lift her mood enough that Damon thought she could manage to not murder everyone at the Grill.

Nothing felt right. The body was too skinny, felt too fragile and her emotions were seriously out of whack. Normally she wouldn't slam Caroline against a wall for laughing at her. It had pissed her off far more than it should have and that just made her worry.

The blue-eyed vampire slipped into the Grill, glad it was so empty, before sitting at the bar as thoughts raced through her head. If she was physically a girl now, did that mean her emotions had been changed too? To be honest, Damon had never really been picky but when she was still a him he had preferred women. Would that change? Would anything in this fucking joke that was called life every go right?

The answer to that definitely seemed to be 'no' as she sensed something powerful enter the room. Despite not being able to sense regular vampires when something that old, that strong, was in the area the vibes that rolled off them hit everything, human and vampire alike. From the feel of it there was more than one of them and an irritated sigh spilled from Damon's lips. This just was not her day, as evidenced by the fact he was now a 'her' to start with.

Damon knocked back the glass of bourbon, slamming the glass down and gesturing for another impatiently. The bartender complied without blinking, compelled to do whatever the vampire wanted even though her gender was changed. With another look the bartender left the bottle, moving away to serve someone else.

The clack of pool balls caught her attention and the pale blue eyes flicked over for a second, catching sight of the two Originals. Kol's eyes were bright with what seemed to be the family insanity as he held out a pool cue to Elijah, almost looking like he actually thought his refined older brother would play.

Elijah almost looked amused, hands in the pockets of his suit pants as he shook his head at Kol. The jacket was gone but he still managed to look elegant in the crisp dark blue shirt and perfectly cut pants. No one seemed to think it was odd that he was dressed so nicely when his brothers tended to dress in whatever they picked up but Damon doubted their opinions would matter to Elijah anyway. He was an Original, he didn't seem to care about other people's opinions. Damon sort of liked that about him.

She shook her head, trying to clear her mind, before taking another drink of her bourbon. She was caught up in her own thoughts and didn't feel the eyes on her. It had just been a fleeting glance from Elijah as his eyes ran over the room at first but then, slowly, his brown eyes moved back to the girl. He could tell, even from here, what she was. The confusing thing was how she smelt. Elijah didn't appreciate being confused.

After quietly telling Kol he'd be back in a second he moved over to the bar, standing next to the woman as he pretended to order a drink for himself and his brother. Damon glanced up at him briefly, nervous, before looking back down and quickly downing the rest of her drink. Unfortunately, by the time the liquid had burned its way down her throat and she'd stood Elijah had already got exactly what he needed. One deep breath.

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So, I was a bit anti-Elena here. But seriously, am I the only one that dislikes her and her supposed love for both brothers?

~Klefan-Lover


	3. Lies and Sarcasm

**A/N: **So, this might be disappointing but some stuff's happened this week I'm totally distracted. Anyway, I hope you guys can forgive me and just try and enjoy. And thank you for reassuring me I'm not the only anti-Elena person out there. That might even be how Delijah/Dalaric/Klefan and the like got started

I'll be replying to all reviews for a more personalized thank you on all my stories because it really does mean a lot to know someone likes my writing. Cheers lovies

**Disclaimer:** I do not own The Vampire Diaries. If I did ... Let's just say that Klefan & Delijah dinner party would have ended way different!

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A hand landed on Damon's arm before she could leave and her head snapped up, meeting Elijah's dark brown eyes worriedly. He was a centuries old Original who could kill her in her sleep and had probably heard of something like this before.

Before a word of protest could escape Elijah had pulled her away from the bar, firm but surprisingly gentle, and into an area where no one except Kol would be able to hear them. She was backed into a corner, literally, and just looked up at the emotionless Original, waiting for his accusation or laughter or whatever.

"Who are you?" his accented voice queried, eyebrows furrowing only slightly as he watched the woman.

Damon almost stuttered, struggling for an answer, and settled on, "I'm just in town to visit some friends, the Salvatores. I don't think it really matters who I am. I'll be gone in a couple of days, maybe by tonight even."

The Original frowned, ducking his head down slightly to breathe in the scent of her hair, hand still on her arm to keep her still. Something about it made Damon's heart dead jump slightly, and she cursed herself internally before meeting Elijah's eyes again.

"Are you related to them?" he asked, stepping out of her space slightly. Damon relaxed slightly despite the fact she had no idea what to say or what she was meant to think. He had been too close for her to think at all.

"Uh, yeah. They're my cousins, I was the same age as Damon. The moron turned me when Stefan was still killing people, he didn't want to be alone and I had been near-death. He thought it was a good thing to do," she lied as fluidly as she could, crossing her arms and dislodging Elijah's hand.

An eyebrow raise was his only reply to that comment before he stepped back, gentlemanly as always, and gestured towards he bar, with a quiet, "I apologize for pulling you away from your drink. Your scent seemed familiar and confused me."

The apology wasn't whole-hearted or even half-hearted but Damon didn't push for a do-over. She quickly moved past him, heading outside into the sun and glancing back. The Original watched the girl leave, a slight frown on his refined features before he walked back to Kol, resting his hands on the edge of the table and ignoring his brother's curious and nosy questions. The youngest male had always been like that.

Something about the story hadn't seemed true. The pause before her explanation had caught his attention but he had let her go anyway, it couldn't have been important. She was just some girl one of the Salvatores had sired. Something about that still seemed odd but Elijah shook it off, quietly berating his brother about one of the various things he had done wrong in the past ten minutes.

Damon quickly headed home, blue eyes glancing behind her as panic pounded in her chest. She knew her answers had been bad and disgustingly see-through and the urge to run screamed in her mind, overruling everything else. In seconds she was blurring into the woods near town, heading straight for the Salvatore house.

She burst through the front door, only slowing down when Damon felt sure she hadn't been followed by any Originals. The tension caught in the thin shoulders vanished as she slipped back into the sitting room he had claimed as his own. Of course, no one seemed to appreciate that.

Stefan and Elena and the whole goddamn Scooby gang were sitting in there, talking and arguing and whatever else. Even Jeremy was there and she sighed, closing her eyes for a second. A deep unnecessary breath was sucked in before Damon walked into the room completely, ignoring the very clear drop in conversation.

"Damon?" Stefan asked quietly, voice cautious as he moved to his brother. "Where'd you go? I was worried."

"Don't use that tone with me," she grumbled, pouring herself a drink. People were moving around the room, leaving from the sounds of it, and that suited Damon just fine. "I'm the oldest sibling Stefan and I can take care of myself, even with creepy Originals sniffing me."

No one said anything for a second and she turned, leaning on the table. Elena was still there despite the fact Jeremy was standing in the doorway with the 'I just got sent outside' look on his face. For a second Damon started to wonder where Ric was when he remembered. He was on a serious 'I hate all vampires, especially Damon' binge and wouldn't set foot in this house until he needed to.

Elena was staring at her with those beautiful doe eyes, full of sadness, as she asked, "Are you okay Damon?"

"Peachy," she smirked sarcastically, raising the glass. "I'm a girl, Elijah and Kol probably know, Ric hates all vampires and did I mention Elijah smelt me? World-class creep right there."

Stefan sighed, "So, Elijah probably knows it's you. He could use this to get to us easier. We can't trust them, not ever."

"You and Klaus seemed to be chummy over the holidays," Damon sniped, smirking at the seething glare her brother sent. "And now you hate each other. Lover's quarrel?"

No one said anything for a second despite the fact it was clear Stefan would love nothing more than to tell Damon off for her comment. She smirked, keeping her outside composure calm despite the fact she was shaken up. Her mind was still adjusting to the new body, to everything, and she hated it more than anything. This wasn't right.

Damon could feel eyes on her and glanced up, surprised to see it was the littlest Gilbert watching her, eyes confused and pitying. Stefan was busy comforting Elena who was all crying and upset, something that seemed a bit of an overreaction even to Damon, and it seemed everyone had forgotten about Jeremy.

"If you think staring at me will get you milk and cookies, you're wrong," she muttered, just loud enough for him to hear. "Even under a spell, I'm still not good at the big brother thing."

Jeremy laughed slightly, hints of bitterness mixed with the amusement, before he shrugged and corrected, "Don't you mean big sister now?"

If anyone else had said that everyone in the room knew Damon's reaction would have been a hell of a lot worse. As it was Stefan was shocked all Jeremy got was a mild glare before Damon downed what was left of her drink and walked to the bookshelves, blue eyes darting over the spines.

"What're you looking for?" Stefan asked quietly, watching her.

"Didn't we have some grimoire's Judgy made us keep in here?" she asked, throwing a look over her shoulder at Stefan. "We could find a spell and fix me."

The younger Salvatore hesitated before quietly venturing, "Damon. You're not going to want to hear this but maybe we can't change you back. Bonnie made it clear she's not going to help and she said if this spell was a new one or a combination of more than one spell we'll need the witch who cast the spell to reverse it."

"You're wrong, Stefan," Damon snapped, glaring venomously. "I'm not staying stuck like this. I will find a spell and a witch to fix me."

"Damon, what if we can't?" Elena whispered, looking at her sadly.

The vampire didn't have an answer for that.

_'Something is wrong about her,' _his mind whispered again, scattering Elijah's carefully organized thoughts. He frowned before looking back down at the thick book he was trying to read.

That damn vampire was lingering in his brain, making him irritable as all the inconsistencies with her story floated to the forefront of his mind time and time again. It shouldn't matter that some vampire Damon had turned was in town but it certainly was getting to him. She didn't smell right. She smelt exactly like Damon, exactly like him, a scent Elijah remembered from the day he had to save him from the werewolves and that one time he stabbed him with a pencil.

It didn't make sense. Even if they were related and even if he had sired her she'd still smell different, unique, like everyone did. Even Elena, a Petrova doppelgänger, smelt different from Katerina and they were identical in every other way. The puzzle was scratching at his mind, driving him mad.

He stood quickly, closing his book and leaving it on the chair before heading downstairs and straight for the door. Elijah had to figure this out and soon. He hated puzzles, especially when he felt the answer was right there, so close, but just out of reach. Before he could make it out the door he could hear Klaus calling for him and he stopped, hand slipping off the door handle.

"Yes Niklaus?" he asked quietly, swallowing his irritation as he turned to face the hybrid.

Klaus was frowning as he crossed to Elijah, asking, "Where are you going?" His blue eyes were stubborn but not worried as he looked at his older brother, arms folded.

"I have business to attend to in town," he answered tersely. "I will return later."

His brother's frown deepened before he asked, "Does it have something do with that woman from the Grill? Kol mentioned you were interested in her."

That worsened his mood and he snapped, "She lied to me Niklaus. You know how much I dislike liars. I just plan on visiting the Salvatores, getting the truth from one of them."

"Let it go Elijah. It doesn't matter if one vampire lies to you," Klaus advised, reaching out to touch his brother's arm.

"And yet, when Stefan Salvatore lies to you an instant vendetta is formed," Elijah snapped, shaking off his brother's warm hand and glaring in a rare show of emotion.

The blue eyes hardened and Klaus stepped back, warning, "Don't compare Stefan to this woman you have some infatuation with. He betrayed me. This girl just lied to you. Maybe she was just scared. It's possible."

Elijah shook his head lightly, turning back to the door and opening it. "Fear doesn't explain her scent Niklaus. That is what caught my interest."

He walked out, ignoring Klaus' demands for him to wait, and headed straight towards the Salvatore boarding house. He'd get his answers, even if he had to torture the information out of the girl. He really didn't appreciate being lied to.

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Thanks for reading. Reviews is more chapters and Delijah loving!

Also, check out my page for one-shots and other stories! Please *puppy dog eyes and shameless cross-promotion*

~Klefan-Lover


	4. Memories and Bonding

**A/N: **Bonus chapter this week! I love you all! Unfortunately, not much Delijah in here, just some angst and sibling bonding. This story is worse than my Klefan ones. It just does whatever it wants

**Disclaimer:** I do not own The Vampire Diaries. If I did ... Let's just say that Klefan & Delijah dinner party would have ended way different!

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Damon was sitting on the couch, reading a thick old grimoire. The Gilberts had left shortly after Elena's crying session and Stefan had claimed he needed to hunt. She wasn't an idiot but didn't call him on his transparent lie, enjoying having the house to herself and no distractions.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket and she pulled it out, opening the message from Ric reluctantly. It was probably yet another rant about how much of a dick she was for snapping his neck and she was hesitant to read it.

'I heard about what happened. Is this a joke?' the message said and Damon almost laughed. She wished it was just some prank.

'Sorry to ruin your day, I really did grow tits overnight,' she replied before tucking the phone back in her pocket and turning back to the book.

There was nothing in the book that was of any use at all. No one had recorded any spell like this, at least not in this journal, and what little hope she'd had was already plummeting. They were right. All of them. The odds of finding a spell like this were minor and the odds of getting a witch to reverse it were even smaller. This would never end well; he'd be stuck like this forever.

Damon could feel her emotions welling up, burning through her, and quickly stood, gathering the grimoire in her arms and walking to the shelf. Maybe she slammed it back into its housing with less than the respect it deserved, hearing the old wood of the shelves groan in complaint.

As if her day wasn't awful enough already the sound of fluttering paper caught her ears and Damon barely jumped out of the way as a book hit the spot where she had just been. Her phone buzzed in her pocket again and she slipped it out instinctively as she scooped up the book, dumping the leather-bound tome on the coffee table as she read that message.

'Are you okay? This must be hard,' it read, almost making her smile. Ric was going to be mad for a while, that was obvious. Snapping his neck was definitely not a good way to maintain friendship but at least he cared enough to ask.

Her pale fingers had started typing out a reply, a short sarcastic bitchy one, when a faded photograph on the floor caught her eyes. The phone was slipped back into Damon's pocket as he gingerly picked up the paper, looking at the image.

She was standing with Stefan, back when she was still a he. They were smiling, laughing, as someone took the photo and Damon could vaguely remember that day. Stefan had just done something amazing, as usual, and Giuseppe insisted on a photo to commemorate the occasion. The older Salvatore was never meant to be in it but Stefan had looked so grouchy, so bored, that she had decided the best way to cure it was to make it a group shot.

As usual, the punishment had been swift and painful, but it had been worth it. Seeing Stefan smile like that, watching the mirth light up his green eyes had been more than enough for Damon. Her little brother had never smiled enough. The only times he had really been happy was around Damon and their cousin, Danielle.

Damon's feet had taken her to the couch without her brain registering it, only realizing when her body slumped against the leather. The photo was still in her hand as tears stubbornly pricked at her eyes despite her attempts to shove down the emotions again. This wasn't something she wanted to think about, especially not now.

Danielle had died in her arms. The story she had told Elijah had been true, partially. Damon had always loved her cousin, born merely weeks after her. Stefan had always been her priority but that wasn't something she cared about. Danni had always understood. She had loved her cousin, completely and unconditionally and Damon had loved her too.

She had been dying, from some problem with her lungs, and she had wanted to save her. If Damon was stuck living for eternity she wanted Danni to be able to live too, not die a slow and painful death while she was coughing up blood. She had just wanted to save her. Instead she hadn't fed her enough blood and she never woke up.

A tear dropped from her ice blue eye onto the photo and she sucked in a deep shuddering breath, glad no one was around to see her cry. Damon Salvatore never wanted to look weak. That resolve didn't stop tears trickling in steady streams down her cheeks as she stared at the photo, happier times flooding through her mind and making her wish she had just run before Stefan could make her turn, before any of this happened.

She never noticed the Original lurking in the hallway, looking at her with sorrowful eyes. Elijah hadn't expected to see the woman crying, tears pouring freely down her cheeks as she looked at a photo. He couldn't see what the picture was but the elegant writing on the back was easy to read from his position in the hall. Damon and Stefan, 1861.

Her tears were genuine, that much was clear, and something in Elijah stopped him from interrogating her like he had planned to when she looked like that. He couldn't hurt her, not now. He lived by a strict moral code and part of the ingrained rules in his mind was that he couldn't hurt women. If he had a choice he wouldn't and he couldn't change that. Over the years his morals had changed and that was unavoidably true but this was one thing Elijah had refused to let change. He would never hurt a woman, not on purpose.

A quiet sob caught his attention and his deep brown eyes snapped up to watch Damon again. As he watched her cry something in him rebelled and he was gone from the house, blurring out as silently as he had come and standing in the trees. Elijah didn't move a muscle as he waited for the younger Salvatore to return, not wanting to risk the girl doing something if she was alone.

Damon's tears were dry by the time Stefan got home, turbulent emotions hidden again. A false reassurance was sitting in Ric's messages and there was no sign she had been crying. The photo was tucked back into the leather-bound book, hidden from prying eyes and a glass of bourbon was in her hand, as usual.

"I was thinking," Stefan quietly ventured, "that maybe there's a reason for this. Some reason we don't understand. It's possible, isn't it?"

Damon shot her brother a glare, snapping, "Besides making us vulnerable what reason could there be for this? What, do you think it's some bizarre form of penance?" She snorted, taking a mouthful of her drink. "If it is, it's definitely a creative punishment."

Stefan sighed, rapping his ring against the table as he thought. It wasn't a new habit but it was definitely still an annoying one. Every single time he went into his withdrawal this would start. Once he was firmly on the bunny diet it would stop until he fell off his imaginary wagon again.

"When the last time you really ate?" she asked, giving him a warning glare, one that clearly said 'don't even try and lie to me'.

He shrugged, muttering, "I went hunting today. I caught a deer."

Damon rolled her eyes, downing the rest of her drink and reiterating, "Really ate Stefan. I don't mean the bunny diet and you know it. I mean fresh-from-the-vein human blood. Withdrawal doesn't suit you, brother."

Her tone was harsh, sarcastic, but the worry in her chest was genuine. After the memories of losing their cousin had flooded Damon's mind he wasn't interested in losing her brother too, not to bloodlust or to death. She had no one else.

"I'm fine Damon. It'll get easier," Stefan insisted as he stood and started to leave.

In an instant she was in front of him, grabbing him by the shirt and spinning him into the wall as words tore from her throat, unbidden, snarling, "No you're not ! You never will be until you stop pretending you can survive like this! I don't want to lose you, not now!"

His green eyes were wide in shock and guilt as he stared at Damon, speechless for a second. Her brain caught a second to catch up with her mouth and when she realised her hands vanished, letting her little brother slump slightly, before choking out a weak sarcastic comment.

"I knew I could get a reaction out of you."

Stefan's eyes softened before he tugged Damon closer, holding his big brother-sister in his arms in a way he hadn't since they were children. She stiffened in his embrace before her too-thin too-delicate arms slipped around his waist, grip tight even as she felt nothing but hesitant.

"I'm sorry Damon," he sighed softly, reaching up to run his fingers through the messy black hair. "I don't want to kill people anymore."

She rolled her eyes, pulling away from him as she folded her arms with a dark glare. It was so clearly Damon, reminding Stefan so vividly of when they were human, that it didn't seem nearly as odd to accept the woman as his brother. He had always gotten that glare whenever he'd made any mistake at all.

"I don't kill people anymore," Damon reminded, mentally adding a 'much' to that statement. "What you need to do is learn self-control. You were never good at controlling yourself."

Stefan shook his head, muttering, "Coming from you that's hilarious. Your control is worse than mine."

Damon stopped for a second, trying to think of a retort, before shrugging and trying to grin as she teased, "At least you won't have to worry about Elena choosing me anymore. I don't think she's into girls."

The comment actually hurt the older Salvatore slightly but she ignored it, resigning herself to the fact Elena would have always chosen Stefan. She had just been a fun boy-toy, a game, and that was all it ever would have been. For some reason the tiny flare of pain wasn't as bad as she thought it would've been.

"Damon," Stefan sighed, eyes guilty. "I wouldn't have cared who she chose. Not after Katherine hurt you like that. Not after Elena turned out to be like her."

Something seemed to be lurking behind his words, dancing on the tip of his tongue, but the door opened and someone called and the moment was gone. Stefan moved away from her, heading to the front door to greet whoever it was and Damon sighed. She didn't like her baby brother keeping secrets, not after this summer.

* * *

Thanks for reading. Reviews is more chapters and Delijah loving!

~Klefan-Lover


	5. Forgiveness and Bribes (AN: Thank you!)

**A/N:** OMFG. You all amaze me. How can you like this story? O.o Anyway, thank you. This is only chapter five and you have given me 21 reviews, 20 follows, 12 favourites and 1,037 views. I love you all. Consider the extreme amount of updates this weekend a thank you

Delijah is going to start building soon! :D Anyway, am I the only one that just noticed the first five chapters were all what happened on one day? O.o Wow, much. Damon sure has a busy life. I admit for a while I didn't notice until I was writing up this chapter and bam! "Holy mother of God, that was one day? Why did I not notice? Oh right, cause I was drooling over Klefan and Delijah pics on tumblr." xD

Anyway, thank you all for the reviews. Would some of you be able to check out my other stories? I'd love to hear your opinions on them too

**Disclaimer:** I do not own The Vampire Diaries. If I did ... Let's just say that Klefan & Delijah dinner party would have ended way different!

**Warning: **Swearing. That counts for all chapters though

* * *

Damon's face was a blank mask by the time Stefan got back, their favourite vampire hunter in tow with a bottle of bourbon. If the younger Salvatore noticed he didn't comment on the change and she was beyond grateful for that. Being vulnerable was bad enough around her brother, let alone the history teacher.

"Ric, couldn't wait to see me as a girl, huh?" Damon teased, rewarded with an eye roll and a muttered 'shut up Damon'.

Alaric sat on the couch, fiddling with the bottle before admitting, "You're known for stupid plans. I didn't want you doing anything too stupid."

His voice was quiet, embarrassed, but still sincere and it surprised the vampire for a second. Here she thought he'd still be mad from the whole neck-snapping incident. Stefan slipped out of the room as Damon moved to the couch, sitting down next to Ric and lounging out like normal.

"I said I was fine," she berated, taking the bottle and opening it.

The human rolled his eyes, retaliating, "Remember our conversation about not lying to your only friend? Well, I've gotten better at figuring you out since then."

_"I am your friend Damon, and you don't have any friends, so no more lying," Ric had half-snapped, eyes worried and annoyed. The vampire had just nodded once._

Damon remembered that moment vividly but shrugged, replying, "Yeah, vaguely. You'd think vampires have better memory."

Ric rolled his eyes but didn't push, taking the bottle back and knocking back a mouthful. After all their arguments lately it seemed surreal that they could just sit there and drink like nothing was wrong, like Ric hadn't been killed and Damon wasn't the wrong gender.

Maybe that was the reason they were still sitting there drinking. Who else could put up with the other's fucked up shit? A bitter chuckle built in her chest as that thought popped into her head before she slipped the bottle from Ric's hand, taking a long well-needed drink.

They just sat there, working their way through the bottle without talking. By the time they'd made it through the first bottle the atmosphere had relaxed enough for some quiet conversation, most of it unimportant and still slightly uncomfortable. A few more drinks later and Alaric ungracefully excused himself, admitting he had essays he was supposed to be grading.

"What happened to 'it's easier to grade with a buzz'?" Damon teased as Ric headed into the hall, not expecting an answer. She wasn't surprised when she didn't get one.

It wasn't late, it was only around seven actually, but after the emotions that had been pounding through her all day she felt exhausted. Damon stood slowly, hands slipping into her pockets as she walked upstairs to the comfort of her own bed. Stefan was writing in his journal, pen scratching away at the paper, and the sound was actually soothing. It was so normal, so mundane, that it made Damon breathe a sigh of relief. At least something was the way it was meant to be.

The girl got out of the clothes Caroline had brought her. Was it only this morning? It felt like a lifetime ago, a human one, that is. Most of the clothes had been so brightly-coloured, so clearly Caroline, that they hadn't even made it out of the bag. There had been one crimson singlet shirt and a pair of jeans that had fit and hadn't screamed vampire Barbie. The rest of it was useless to Damon and she resolved to give it back.

The shirt and jeans were dumped on the floor before Damon looked at the boxers and shirt that had ended up tossed on his bed that morning. She pulled them on, sighing in relief at the familiar feeling of the expensive fabric before climbing into the bed, pulling the blankets up over her.

For a few minutes she could forget everything was backwards and wrong and just breathed in the oh-so-familiar scent of the sheets and the pillows. She always bought the same sheets and pillowcases and pillow even from the same place. They always had a scent to them, a specific one, and now that smell meant home to her.

Her pale blue eyes fluttered shut, mind drifting through everything that had happened over the course of a very long day. For some reason the image of Elijah trapping her in a corner, those beautiful brown eyes watching her curiously, confusedly, stuck in her mind. Until that morning she had never noticed his eyes were beautiful, so much more beautiful than Elena's were.

She slowly drifted off to sleep, mind caught on the deadly but elegant Original that before that day had never interested her like this. Of course, that made sense. Before that day she had been a very female-interested he.

* * *

Damon and Stefan had one thing in common. They hated mornings. Stefan was up earlier, a text from Elena having woken him, and eventually decided someone needed to wake Damon up. The younger Salvatore made coffee just the way Damon liked it before walking up to the room he had always been told was off-limits.

Stefan carefully set the mug on the table as he looked at the sleeping woman. He still wasn't adjusted to the whole gender change thing but the few locks of hair falling over her peaceful face made him smile. It was about time his brother – sister looked happy.

As he gently reached out, catching Damon's shoulder in his hand, he thought he heard a name escape her pale lips but shook his head. No matter how fucked up Damon was feeling she wouldn't be thinking about Elijah. Even she wasn't that weird.

Stefan shook the woman gently but sternly enough to make her eyelids flutter. He had already braced himself so when a hand snapped out and hit him hard in the chest he barely staggered, not losing his grip on Damon's shoulder.

"Fuck off Stefan," the girl grumbled, trying to pull Stefan's hand off he shoulder while pulling a pillow over her head. "It's too early to even consider getting up."

Stefan checked his watch and sighed, "It's almost ten Damon. Even for you on a Saturday it's getting a little late." His voice turned encouraging, cajoling, as he bribed, "I bought you coffee."

Blue eyes peeked out from under the pillow as she asked, "The blend I got?"

He chuckled, lifting the mug and wafting the scent near her nose. It got her to sit up for long enough to take the mug a nice long drink. Stefan started to leave when he noticed the second he had turned his back the mug was put down and the blankets had been dragged up over the tousled black hair.

"Would you stop being such a baby?" he sighed, walking back over and trying to pull the blankets away from a very determined Damon.

The elder whined, hugging the blankets tighter and complained, "You try getting turned into a girl and see how tired you are!"

Stefan rolled his eyes, pulling the pillow away and tossing it carelessly onto the floor before starting to work at making her let go of the sheets. In the end it almost turned into a bit of a game for the two siblings, Damon smirking to herself as she made sure every time Stefan got close to succeeding the blankets would be gone from his grip and tight around her again.

Deep down the brief childish game wasn't really helping anything and they both knew it. Ric's partial forgiveness had been nice but he'd never really forgive her for the second death at her hands. Elena would pick Stefan for sure now. Everyone pitied her. Damon didn't want to be pitied or treated like she was fucking fragile. She just wanted to fix this.

Stefan noticed the mood of the room had shifted, darkened, and stopped tugging on the blanket, muttering, "Get up already. I'm going to get the paper; considering how long you've kept me trapped in here it should be here by now."

He stood and crossed to the door, glancing back with concern in his eyes before he headed downstairs, footsteps near silent. Damon just kept lying there for a minute, staring blankly up at the ceiling before forcing herself to get up and go to the connected bathroom. The laughter of the last ten minutes was gone and all she could think about was how she could get this fixed.

* * *

Elijah had made plans. His mother was insisting on holding a ball and Klaus seemed to be planning on keeping Stefan occupied. The easiest way to get the girl to talk to him was to lure her closer. If it came to it, he'd compel her once she was there.

The ball would be difficult, dangerous even. His family was together again but something seemed off about his mother's desire for peace. That didn't mean his curiosity wasn't burning in him, making him want to figure out what that damned girl had been keeping from him. It wasn't often Elijah made plans that didn't involve his family but he didn't like people lying to him. Never had.

To be honest it hadn't taken long for the plan to form. The red shirt from yesterday had caught his attention, even if it was only because of the colour. It suited her and when his mother had announced the ball an idea had hit him. Maybe if she thought Elijah was trying to court her she'd be more receptive to seeing him. Once the idea was there things were easier than he ever could have imagined they'd be.

Elijah didn't want his siblings knowing. Klaus was still volatile, especially whenever Stefan was around and if his buttons got pushed he might lash out at the nearest person who might survive and if it happened to hurt his big brother that was a bonus. Luckily, the night before Rebekah had left her laptop sitting on the table after rush-ordering her dress. No one actually knew what dress she had brought at the time so he waited until his siblings were busy chattering or whatever they had been doing and started a simple search.

Crimson dresses weren't hard to find now that women were so obsessed with dressing up for almost completely unimportant occasions. Normally the shallowness would irritate him. Today it just made everything so much easier. Elijah had paid for it and continued planning, retreating to his room to figure out how to get this to work.

His mind was only half-focused on the task but when Esther had given him an invitation for their ball, telling him to give it to someone he knew, it all slotted together. If he could get that and the gift to the girl then maybe his plan would work. So the next morning he found himself standing in the trees outside the Salvatore house again, listening as Stefan struggled to get something from the laughing woman.

When the laughter stopped and he had heard Stefan heading downstairs Elijah had darted forward, standing against the house as he listened for movement. After a minute she had moved from the bed, heading into another room and he had immediately been in the room, resting the box with her dress with the invitation and a white carnation and a viscaria sitting on top on the bed. The carnation had seemed appropriate, considering it meant truth while the viscaria had just been a strange urge when he was getting the other flower. Truth was the only thing the Original wanted from her though.

The second Elijah felt the bribe was placed correctly he was gone again, not waiting to see the woman's face when she opened the box. The temptation was there but Esther had made it very clear she wanted them at home to make sure they were appropriately ready for this ball. He may have been a thousand years old but part of him refused to ignore his mother.

* * *

Thanks for reading. Reviews is more chapters and Delijah loving!

Also, Damon/Alaric ain't happening here. Just friends guys, just friends with no smexy benefits. Also, this story has a mind of it's own. I'm so not in control here! Sorry if this chapter bored you a bit :/

~Klefan-Lover


	6. Flowers and Makeup

**A/N: **I had to do it. I'm sorry. The Klaroline invite never happened okay? It's all Klefan and Delijah here :D Also, the notes were in a different font on my computer, the stupid site just refused to put them like that. Sorry everyone. They look so much better in the word document with the fancy fonts.

Anyway, thank you all for the reviews. Would some of you be able to check out my other stories? I'd love to hear your opinions on them too

**Disclaimer:** Elijah is one of the sexiest fictional characters to ever exist. I'd love to own him but sadly, I do not

* * *

The hot water normally helped her relax. Today it didn't do anything. The shower was turned off quickly and Damon wrapped a towel around herself, heading back to the room. Her pale eyes slid across the room, not noticing the cream box on the bed the first time. As she moved closer it finally caught her attention and she frowned, watching it warily.

After a second Damon picked up the two flowers, eyes analysing them critically as her mind provided answers to why they were there. The viscaria could mean something along the lines of dance with me and the white carnation meant truth. She carefully placed the flowers down before picking up the invitation, reading it quickly.

"The Mikaelsons?" she muttered, eyes darkening. "Which one of them was dumb enough to invite me?"

There was nothing to indicate it on the front of the invitation and Damon dropped it onto the bed before opening the box, eyes widening in shock and insult. There was something else thought, some tiny emotion fluttering at the back of her mind. It wasn't something Damon expected to feel. It was akin to gratitude but that definitely didn't explain the tiniest butterfly feeling.

She scoffed, slamming the lid back down before noticing the invitation had writing on the back of it. In an attempt to distract herself from the unwanted feelings she snatched it up, reading the elegant writing quickly.

**_You intrigue me. Please do me the honour of accompanying me to the ball tonight. I wish to know more about you_**

**_- Elijah_**

Her eyes ran over the words again before glancing down at the box. Something was seriously not adding up here. Damon quickly got dressed before rushing downstairs, looking for her brother with the invitation clenched in her hand. It was making her nervous. Well, maybe not nervous. More like confused.

Stefan was sitting on the couch, frowning darkly as something plagued his thoughts. Damon stalked over to him, waving the invitation under his nose, waiting for a reaction of some kind. Even if he told her to go away at least that was a reaction.

"I'm busy," he muttered, waving her hand away as he stared at the table.

She snorted, pretending to scrutinise the invitation before bubbling in her best girly Caroline impression, "Elijah asked me to a ball tonight. I'm so happy; I mean he's just totally gorgeous."

Stefan choked slightly on nothing, eyes snapping up to look at Damon in shock and maybe a little bit of horror. He stuttered, trying to voice his thoughts, before he noticed the amused smirk.

"Now I have your attention, Elijah seems to be flirting with me," she announced, sticking the invitation under his nose again.

He took it this time, inspecting the message as Damon continued, "Left a box with a dress and two flowers with it. He must've gotten into my room while I was in the shower."

Stefan passed back the invitation before picking up something from the couch next to him, hesitantly holding it out for her. She frowned, flipping it over to see if it also had a message on the back.

**Not too scared to come, I presume. I'll be waiting, love**

**- Nik**

"Since when does he call you love?" Damon asked, earning a glare as Stefan snatched the invitation back, tearing it in half.

He stood; hands buried in his pockets, and muttered, "It doesn't matter. He just likes playing with people's minds, we both know that." His voice was shaky, nervous, and his eyes were full of barely-masked desperation. Stefan wanted to tell Damon he was right, that Klaus was a dick and a monster and although she did agree with that assessment she hated not knowing what was wrong.

"I don't know," she hedged, trying to portray uncertainty, not the hatred she felt. "Maybe he's like me. I mean, we both know what happens when I get emotional." A finger was dragged against her throat for emphasis.

Stefan frowned darkly, protesting, "He killed Elena. And Jenna and Jules and who knows how many others over the years."

Damon chuckled, resting a hand on her little naïve brother's shoulder, reminding, "I killed Vicki and Alaric. I killed Ric twice as a matter of fact. I turned Isobel, tried to turn Elena and killed who knows how many others over the years." The mimicry of Stefan's word hadn't been accidental.

"Can we just drop this?" he mumbled after a second, refusing to meet Damon's eyes. "Are you going to the ball or not? If you are we'll need a plan."

She hadn't actually thought of that but something told her Stefan wouldn't be backing down from Klaus' challenge. Protectiveness flared up in Damon and she knew that she couldn't just let her baby brother go off to face a hybrid, not with whatever was going on between the two of them.

"Of course I'm coming. Did you not hear me gushing over Elijah's hotness?" she deadpanned before her eyes grew serious. "Anyway, someone needs to help my brother deal with the hybrid's psycho flirting."

* * *

Stefan and Damon weren't the only ones who had received invitations. Elena had gotten one from Esther and the younger had gone to try and convince her to stay at home. Damon offered to come over as well but the doppelgänger had snapped, telling her that she didn't want to see her. It didn't surprise the vampire and it didn't really hurt as much as it should have. Elena was a little slutty bitch, just like Katherine. It had only taken a gender-change to see that.

Damon resigned herself to having to get ready for the stupid ball, already regretting agreeing to go to the stupid thing. She loved her brother in her own slightly twisted way but that didn't mean she wanted Elijah to have a chance to do whatever he was planning. There was no way he actually was trying to flirt. He was a thousand years old, he probably didn't know how.

That amused her for a second before she looked back at the phone in her hand. If Damon had to go to this stupid ball she wasn't going to embarrass herself by looking like a complete mess. An unsent message was open and a deep breath was sucked in before she hit send, hoping Caroline didn't go totally psycho at the request for help. The reply wasn't exactly encouraging.

Before Damon really had time to rethink what she was doing vampire Barbie was there, arms full of bags with one of the biggest grins she'd ever seen. This was not going to end well and the older knew it but she let Caroline start fiddling with her hair, eyes focused.

"Why would you go to this thing anyway?" she asked after a few minutes, voice curious.

Damon hesitated before answering, "Stefan has some weird thing with Klaus. They're fighting and he's going because Klaus baited him. I don't want him there alone."

Caroline just hmmed like she knew that wasn't the whole truth and Damon scowled at her in the reflection in the mirror. Damn smug Blondie.

"Elijah might have invited me," she snapped, hating that look on the other's face and grinning when she actually looked surprised. "I thought it could be fun to go, yank his strings a little. He doesn't know it's me."

Caroline hesitated before venturing, "He could hurt you. I mean, he's moral and everything but if you piss him off he could snap. I know you're strong but he's stronger. Anyway, what do you mean by invited you?"

Damon shrugged lightly, pointing the now-open box on the bed. The flowers were sitting on top of the dress and Caroline eyed it curiously before grabbing one of the bags she had brought, the one that smelt like makeup, and starting to pull stuff out. The Salvatore sighed, eyes closing. This was going to be a long afternoon.

* * *

When Caroline had finally decided Damon was ready the blonde had left, heading back to her house with a bounce in her step that the Salvatore made a mental note to eliminate as soon as she could. First she had an Original to mess with.

Navigating the stairs was more difficult than she wanted to admit in the long dress and the black heels Caroline had given her. Damon tried to pretend it was easy though, knowing Stefan was waiting downstairs and if she tripped she'd never live it down. With the various Original's to deal with for a minute she almost forgot that she had to try and find a way to reverse the curse.

She made it down the stairs without falling and congratulated herself mentally, moving into the living room where she could clearly hear her brother pacing. The dress was a nice colour and a high-end fabric but it was still managing to piss Damon off as she walked down the three stairs to her brother who was indeed pacing. Stefan barely noticed her arrival, anxiously fiddling with the cuffs of his jacket.

"Please tell me you didn't steal my tux," Damon sniped, knowing he didn't. Sibling banter tended to keep Stefan occupied and maybe it would stop him from ripping his hair out or something.

The green eyes darted up as he retorted, "Not like you need it. You're all decked out for Elijah. You really are a girl, aren't you?"

If it had been any other day they both knew Damon would have happily clocked him for any comments like that. Today she just flipped him the bird before gesturing towards the front door, eyes narrowed. If she had spent the past two hours getting attacked by Caroline for Stefan to back out now she would do a lot worse than punching him.

Stefan sighed but nodded, walking to his beloved Porsche and Damon followed him. In the end they had decided to just use his car since last time she'd seen Elijah the story had been they were cousins. It wouldn't raise that much suspicion.

The drive was quiet, punctuated by Damon's occasional shifting and Stefan tapping on the steering wheel. No words were exchanged until they were almost near the drive to the mansion when a mumble caught Damon's ear.

"Speak up brother," she chided, feeling like they were children again.

Stefan met her eyes as he pulled up, blurting, "Thank you for coming. I didn't want to be here alone, not with the Originals."

Damon chuckled lightly, resting a hand on her brother's arm for a second before getting out of the car and walking right into the mansion. She might be here for her brother but deep down the vampire knew she was there for another reason too. Elijah.

* * *

Thanks for reading. Reviews is more chapters and Delijah loving!

And I know you all hate me for cutting it off here. The actual ball scene might take a bit longer and be enormous so I wanted to get this up before I dove too deep into the dance. And if anyone spots the Escape the Fate reference I'll write a fem!Damon/Elijah one-shot for you with a theme of your choice

~Klefan-Lover


	7. Questions (AN only)

I know you're not meant to do author's notes as separate chapters anymore but I have a request of my wonderful readers. On my profile there's a poll and I would really love it if you guys could take the time to answer it. It'll help me make sure this story is what you want it to be in the end.

Also, if you have any one-shot ideas or twists you'd like me to try to include feel free to PM/review them and I'll see what I can do. When it comes to one-shots I write almost anything and I love prompts, they help me focus on one idea as opposed to three million

Thank you for reading my work so far. I am glad you all seem to be enjoying Spells and Originals. I really want to thank you for the love and support you have showed the characters and in future I might write more Delijah now I know there are people out there who like it

Don't forget to review my other chapters loves. Reviews make me want to work harder

~Klefan-Lover


	8. Dancing and Fighting

**A/N: **Almost 4000 words on this chapter. It didn't work out how I was expecting at the start but it's done and that's what matters

Delijah dancing and some Elena confronting :) Enjoy

**Disclaimer:** I don't own a matching pair of socks, let alone TVD

* * *

Elijah was feeling surprisingly impatient. Normally he could wait for months or even years for his plans to take effect but tonight he just wanted the woman to show up so he could interrogate her and get this nagging curiosity out of the way. Of course, his siblings thought there was another reason for his irritation.

"Waiting for your date?" Kol mocked, leaning against the staircase railing as Elijah's eyes scanned the guests.

The eldest surviving Original rolled his eyes, reminding, "She's not a date. Whoever she is, she's been lying to me. I do not appreciate being lied to, as well you know."

Kol almost winced at the memory of his brother's reaction to being lied to before remembering something. Elijah didn't hurt women. Not unless he had to. Elijah the moral Mikaelson would never lay a hand on a girl. Of course, that didn't mean Kol couldn't just to ruin his brother's plans for the evening.

"I know what you're thinking," Elijah warned, watching him with stern eyes. He had changed so much after their father had turned on them. Part of Kol wanted to see his big brother smile again, like when they were human. "If the woman persists in lying to me you can do what you want to convince her then, but only then."

Before Kol could respond Elijah had moved downstairs, mingling with the guests politely. He was still slightly aloof but despite his preoccupation with the woman and his mother's schemes he managed to seem like a welcoming host. The only real upside to being downstairs, besides getting away from his siblings, was he caught her scent the second she stepped into his home.

Elijah glanced over, noticing she was wearing the dress he had left idly, as he focused on her scent, trying to memorise it. If things went badly tonight he'd need to be able to find her. One thing about her stuttering story seemed to ring true. The woman was definitely a Salvatore. If the chunky ring on her hand wasn't proof enough her scent was.

Stefan followed her inside, hands in his pockets, awkwardness radiating off him in waves. He was there to see Klaus but his eyes followed the woman protectively. It was the kind of protectiveness Elijah had always associated with family.

He started to make his way through the crowd towards her, intent on starting the next phase of his plan, when he noticed Kol slipping over to her, a mischievous glint in his eyes. The last time Elijah had seen that look his brother had almost managed to get himself and Hendrick killed by a bear. That was the worrying side to it.

When Kol introduced himself, all charm and smiles, and lifted her pale hand to his lips to plant a kiss on it something in Elijah felt infuriated. He had made one request of his family for the night. Leave the woman alone. It seemed even that was too much to ask of his awful little brother.

He moved faster through the crowd, still trying to maintain his serious and composed air as he watched Kol flirt shamelessly with the one person he was meant to be leaving alone. The one thing Elijah hated more than being lied to was being ignored. It seemed Kol needed a little reminding of that.

* * *

The mansion was exquisite; Damon could admit that as she moved into the main room. Her pale eyes slid across the guests, wondering if the whole town was invited. Carol Lockwood was there, talking to someone she guessed was Finn but no one else really caught her attention. It didn't really matter who was there anyway. If anyone asked she was Danielle Salvatore, Stefan's older cousin, just in town for a little while since Damon was away and worried about his baby brother and if they were sceptical it didn't matter. The Originals were the only reason she was there really.

A table was sitting near a hall that probably led into off-access areas of the mansion, filled with various drinks and her keen senses picked up the scent of something expensive. The tiniest grin curved her mouth before Damon headed that way, taking one of the already-poured glasses.

"Miss Salvatore, I presume?" an accented voice queried and she glanced over, meeting Kol's brown eyes. "We haven't formally met. My name is Kol Mikaelson."

He lifted her hand, grazing his lips against her knuckles with a charming smirk. She wanted to roll her eyes but noticed Elijah watching them and decided to have a little fun. Damon turned her attention back to Kol, looking at him from under her eyelashes flirtatiously.

"It's a pleasure to meet you. Please, call me Danni," she smiled, trying to sound as sensual as she could manage.

Kol had followed her eyes and didn't take long to catch on to what she was going, replying, "The pleasure is all mine. You look absolutely stunning. My brother was right about that dress. It suits you perfectly."

When he'd say things like that to a girl they'd flush and giggle like complete idiots. It was embarrassing and self-degrading but Damon let out a believable giggle, watching Elijah stalk closer with dark eyes. He obviously wasn't impressed with their flirting and she loved the intoxicating feeling of power that gave her. Before Elijah could reach them she leant forward, pressing a kiss on Kol's cheek before leaning back with a coy smile.

"I'll see you another time Kol," she murmured before glancing at Elijah. "I think your brother needs to talk to you."

The eldest Mikaelson had just reached them when Damon slipped into the crowd, glad for the drink in her hand. That had been a little more nerve-wracking then she had expected. As she glanced back she could see Elijah giving Kol a death glare, hissing something even her hearing couldn't pick up but from the look on the younger's face it was definitely not something she wanted to hear.

Damon looked down for a second, taking a sip of her drink and when her eyes rose again she could see Elena taking to Finn in an attention-catching gold and black dress. Her eyes rolled at how she always claimed not to want attention and then dressed like that before she realised just how bitter that sounded. If someone didn't know better they'd think it was because she was hurt that Elena had chosen Stefan.

Before she could walk over and demand to know what was going on she heard Elijah clear his throat and turned to the stairs. All of the Originals were standing there except for Finn but he quickly excused himself and joined them.

"Welcome, thank you for joining us," he started, smiling at the guests. "You know, whenever my mother brings our family together like this, it's tradition for us to commence the evening with a dance."

Damon was so busy watching Elijah, unable to pull her eyes away for reasons she didn't want to think about. Luckily when she realised she was staring she forced her eyes away, catching sight of Mama Original standing on the landing as she watched.

"Do you see who I see?" Damon breathed, knowing with Klaus on the stairs Stefan would be in hearing distance.

Her brother muttered, "Oh yeah," from behind her, startling Damon slightly. She hadn't realised he was that close.

"Tonight's pick is a centuries-old waltz, so if all of you could please find yourselves a partner, please join us in the ballroom," Elijah finished, meeting Damon's eyes from his spot on the stairs.

It wasn't hard to guess what he was about to do and she felt like swearing. How the fuck was she meant to waltz in heels? Elijah put his wine flute down a tray one of the waiters had before walking towards Damon, the tiniest smirk on his lips as he reached her.

"Miss Salvatore, may I have this dance?" he asked, meeting her blue eyes with his brown.

She hesitated before letting him take her hand and lead her to the ballroom. She could clearly hear Stefan chuckling behind her and turned to glare at him, mouthing that Klaus would probably be waiting for the right time to ask him to dance. That earned a dark glare in return before Elijah pulled her onto the ballroom floor.

As they were about to start dancing Damon muttered, "I feel like I should warn you, I haven't waltzed since 1864. And I wasn't wearing heels then."

Elijah chuckled, the sound sending the most annoying jolt through her, before the music started. It wasn't as hard to balance as she had worried, the strong arms of the Original helping keep her steady, but that didn't mean it was any more enjoyable. That's what Damon tried to tell herself anyway.

As the dance continued Elijah pulled her against his chest, hand resting on her hip moving to curl around her waist. She barely stopped herself from making a surprised sound, looking up at Original curiously. He shrugged lightly, still leading her through the dance, logical mind justifying this whole night, this whole courting charade. It was just the easiest way to get to the woman.

They were meant to switch partners. They both knew that but until Stefan deftly moved Damon away from the Original neither one of them attempted to act on that knowledge. When safely away from Elijah she took a deep breath, dancing easily with her brother.

"Thank you Stefan," Damon muttered, glancing at Elijah over Stefan's shoulder as he danced with Carol.

He shrugged, careful not to dislodge her hand, and replied, "Mayor Lockwood dragged me out here and you looked like you could use a hand. Didn't realise you were being serious earlier."

Damon choked down a snarl, settling for a dark glare as she let Stefan lead her around the room until the song ended. When it finished they let go of each other, Damon still glaring like she'd like to decapitate him or vervain him in his sleep. Before they could actually start fighting Klaus crossed to the pair, ignoring Damon completely.

"Stefan, love," he murmured, eyes surprised. "For a while I thought you wouldn't come."

It would be clear even to a blind man that something was there and that Stefan and Klaus were both hurting. It was awkward to even think about and Damon slipped away, not surprised when neither of them noticed. With the looks they were sending each other Elijah could be running around naked and on fire and they wouldn't notice.

She sighed, shaking her head to clear her mind of that peculiar image as she slipped outside, looking around the perfectly cultivated garden. From Stefan's descriptions not too long ago the plants had been untamed, wild. Now it was taken care of, well-presented, but with a few bits here and there that pointed out it wasn't perfect. Sort of like Elijah.

Damon growled low in her throat, hating the way all of her thoughts kept leading back to him. He was an Original, one who had stabbed her in the throat with a pencil once. Any thought about him should be full of hate. This was wrong, all so wrong. Being trapped in a woman's body was bad enough without that fucking Original plaguing her thoughts.

A hand slid along her arm and Damon jerked in surprise, spinning to find herself face-to-face with the same Original she had been internally raging about. Elijah had this peculiar way of moving, completely soundless, almost like he was so fast he could move without disturbing the air between his starting point and his destination.

"We need to talk," he murmured, looking down at her with curious brown eyes. "I want to know more about your past."

All of his plans to force the information out of her had vanished. He couldn't even bring himself to think about forcing the surprisingly sweet but volatile woman into doing anything, not even giving simple answers. The only idea that hadn't slipped out of his normally full mind was the idea to court her for long enough to get her trust.

"Not much to tell," Damon muttered reluctantly; eyes focusing somewhere near his cheek. "I loved my cousins and they loved me. Stefan wasn't himself after he turned. Damon had no one. He turned me because he couldn't bear the thought of eternity without me and with his brother lost to bloodlust."

It was true, it was so fucking true and it hurt. Danielle, sweet smart Danni had died because Damon had been selfish. The story wasn't stuttered this time, it flowed from her lips naturally, the only hint it even hurt the tiny crack in her voice. Half the people she talked to wouldn't even have noticed. Of course, Elijah wasn't like most people.

After a second he reached up, letting his thumb stroke along her cheek before murmuring, "I apologize for bringing up these memories. I felt there wasn't something you were telling me and didn't appreciate it."

Damon let herself appreciate the hand on her cheek for a second before stepping past him as gracefully as she could manage, breaking eye contact and heading back for the mansion.

"I hope you're done with the whole 'courting' thing now you've got you answers," she bit out, shooting a look over her shoulder. "Stefan really doesn't approve."

Elijah's eyes darkened slightly before he lifted his chin in silent acquiesce, watching Damon walk away. No one had defied him in years besides his siblings. The ones that had didn't live long. The blood-red dress was too distracting; he mused as he followed her. There was a wobble in her step and it wasn't easy to miss but she was carrying herself with as much dignity as she could manage and the determination was impressive. The dress just made it that much harder to ignore those traits, it drew too much attention.

Damon could feel eyes on her but slid into the crowd, eyes darting around for her brother. If she wanted, Elena could stay and plot with Esther or whatever. She just wanted to get home and away from Elijah who still seemed to be staring at her.

His brown eyes were following her, still slightly irritated with her defiance. There was something else niggling at him though. Something about the woman just reminded him of Damon but Elijah dismissed the thought, reminding himself they were cousins. There was bound to be a resemblance.

After another minute of staring Damon growled softly, eyes snapping to Elijah and treating him to a dark look before noticing Elena walking down the stairs and heading towards the Original. Something flared up in Damon's chest as she watched them talk but she quickly tamped it down, moving towards Stefan now he and Klaus had reappeared.

Elijah wasn't blind and he wasn't stupid either. Despite Elena trying to catch his attention he had seen the brief flare of something in the cerulean blue eyes. If he didn't know better he'd say she was jealous. He pushed the thought to the back of his mind and met Elena's eyes, cursing himself for getting distracted with Damon.

"So how was my mother?" he asked softly, watching her face for any sign of a lie.

She let out a breath before replying, "Intense."

Elijah chose not to comment on that, continuing with his questions. "And for what reason did she need to speak with you in private?" She didn't answer for a second and he pushed, "Elena? Should I be concerned about my mother's intentions?"

"She just wanted to apologize for trying to have me killed," she reassured, smiling slightly.

Part of him wanted desperately to believe her, to believe his family could be together again but deep down Elijah doubted his mother could ever let go of what Klaus had done. She might have been the one who transgressed but she and Mikael had always blamed Klaus for everything.  
"So it's true, then?" he asked, smiling despite himself as hope bubbled in his chest. "She's forgiven Klaus?"

"It's true."

All of his hopes shattered at her weak lie. Elijah kept the smile pinned to his face anyway; trying to trick her into thinking she had gotten away with her lie. The tension left her shoulders before the sound of crystal being tapped caught their attention and they could look at the stairs. Esther was standing at the top of the stairs, holding a glass of champagne aloft with a too-warm smile.

"Good evening, ladies and gentleman. Waiters are coming around with champagne. I invite you all to join me in raising a glass," she announced as the waiters moved through the crowds, offering glasses. Everyone took one, all of his siblings, before they reached Elena and Elijah. He wasn't sure for a second but took two, passing one to the doppelgänger still with his fake smile.

"It provides me with no greater joy then to see my family back together as one. I'd like to thank you all for being part of this spectacular evening. Cheers!" Esther continued, raising her glass.

Everyone echoed her sentiment and Elijah watched as all his siblings drank from the glasses, little smiles on all their faces. His eyes raked over the crowd, meeting Damon's blue. Her hand was empty of a glass in yet another act of what he could only guess was defiance and it steeled his resolve.

"Cheers," he smiled, clinking his glass with Elena's before having a drink. Something in her eyes changed but she smiled back and had a sip of her glass, trying to act normal.

She was a terrible liar, far worse than Katerina or Tatia had been. Elijah excused himself, leaving his glass on a table and heading back outside for a breath of the fresh air his body didn't need but his mind did. Elena was lying to him and it wasn't like when Damon had. She had been protecting herself from a prying mind. Elena was planning something and it seemed like she was planning with his mother.

* * *

Damon could clearly hear Elijah and Elena's conversation from the other side of the room and winced at Elena's pathetic lie. Even vampire Barbie could sound more convincing than that. Elijah didn't seem to notice though, continuing their conversation until after the toast before excusing himself. For reasons Damon didn't want to analyse she wanted to follow him and help.

Elena was walking to the doors and the Salvatore followed her quickly, deciding getting information from her would be easier than making Elijah talk. Damon followed her out towards the carriages were she looked at the horses, smiling slightly.

"So, what did Esther want?" Damon asked, watching in amusement as she turned in surprise before the doe eyes narrowed.

Elena folded her arms and snapped, "It's not important. You wouldn't approve."

An eye roll met the doppelgängers stubborn announcement before she pushed, "I have right to know. This was my town first and if you're planning on killing people the least you could do is tell me."

Elena glanced towards the house nervously before whispering, "She's going to kill them Damon. All of them."

Her heart lurched at the plural and Damon choked out, "All of them?"

"I had to," Elena whispered, eyes determined. There was only the slightest hint of remorse in those brown pools Damon had once found so beautiful. "It was my life of theirs."

"They don't deserve this!" she snarled, feeling her fangs itching to burst out and tear into the unprotected neck in front of her. "Elijah definitely doesn't! Sure, Klaus is a dick but Elijah isn't. Where do you get off deciding who lives and dies?"

The outburst was more impassioned than Damon had meant for it to be and Elena's eyes filled with tears before she snapped, "I had to do it! You only care because it means you lose Elijah!"

"And Stefan will lose Klaus!" she retaliated, eyes widening when she realised what she had let out.

Elena's eyes darkened bitterly, tears still brimming, before she slapped Damon hard. Her head turned back to face the doppelgänger, capillaries bulging under blood-red eyes as she bared her fangs. Before Damon could attack or Elena could do something even more stupid Stefan was there, gripping his brother's arm tight.

His green eyes were annoyed and pained as he sighed, "Let's go home. I think we've all had enough excitement for one night."

Damon let out another low snarl, glaring at the lightly quivering doppelgänger. She didn't fight when Stefan tugged her away though; face fading back to normal the further away from Elena she got. She let her brother bundle her into the car and drive off, the silence in the Porsche uncomfortable and tense.

"Why did you bring up Klaus?" Stefan asked bitterly after a few more minutes, driving recklessly fast.

Damon shrugged slightly, muttering, "It just slipped out. My brain to mouth censor broke for a few minutes."

His hands tightened on the wheel he muttered something, looking over at her with burning green eyes. Damon knew exactly what he was thinking and looked away in a rare moment on acquiesce, staring out the window silently. This night had not ended up the way she had expected.

* * *

Thanks for reading. Reviews is more chapters and Delijah loving!

So. That was a crappy dance scene, right? You don't need to tell me loves. But if it gets you to review feel free ;)

~Klefan-Lover


	9. Hurt and Comfort

**A/N: **So, only just over a thousand words here. Sorry. Have a biscuit! *throws virtual cookies at you all*

Also, in response to some reviews, I also always wish Damon could stop the champange drinking or Elijah would just turn it down but I needed the link thing so I could stay closer to the story-line in the shows and not go off on random tangents. Sorry!

**Disclaimer:** I wish I owned TVD. But, it's just a dream

* * *

"She is beautiful, brother," Kol teased, slipping the book from Elijah's hands and pretending to read it. "And spirited. I can see why you're interested in her."

Klaus had the tiniest smirk on his face as he sketched and Elijah let out a well-practiced sigh of annoyance as he leant forward to try and get the book back. Kol jerked his hand back at the last second, eyes sparkling with mirth.

"I'm not interested in her," he countered, holding his hand out for the book.

His brother rolled his eyes before passing it back, sniping, "You could have fooled me. Even if we don't count when you threatened me there were plenty of signs. We all know you don't just give anyone presents."

Elijah sighed again, opening the book and trying to tune out his brother's voice. After a thousand years he was rather good at it but it didn't help the thoughts in the back of his mind. Kol was just trying to provoke a reaction, as usual, but part of the older Original thought he was closer to the mark than he realised.

"I think you should be more curious about Niklaus' interest in the younger Salvatore," he pointed out after a minute of Kol watching for a reaction.

Klaus stiffened but kept sketching, movements more robotic now. It was a lot more childish than Elijah normally acted but the relief he felt when Kol turned to aggravate their brother seemed to make up for that moment of weakness.

It didn't take long for an argument to brew and Elijah slipped out, heading up to his room with a slight frown. Elena had been lying poorly earlier that night and he had just caught wind of an argument between her and Damon. He hadn't quite been close enough to hear their words over the music but by the time he'd arrived Stefan had been leading his cousin away, her face vampiric.

Finn and Esther were still in the office they had taken over during preparations for the ball. That sent a spike of worry through him too. It had been a thousand years but Finn had always hated being a vampire and Klaus had killed Esther. Even a thousand years might not be long enough to forgive your child for killing you.

He let out yet another sigh and sunk onto the end of the slightly too-extravagant bed Klaus had clearly picked. His brother had always had tastes that were a little too fancy for Elijah but he never complained. It was nice to have them all under the same roof, even with Finn and Esther plotting away, so he could manage with his brother's flare.

Remembering Esther and Finn darkened his mood further and he shrugged off his jacket, tossing it across the room in a rare moment of carelessness. The bowtie hanging undone around his neck joined it before he threw the waistcoat after it and stretched out his arms. Elijah was annoyed and so tired of all the lies and deceit in his family.

He fell back, head hitting the soft duvet as his eyes closed. He'd have to tell Rebekah about what was going on. She had been annoyed with Kol's attempt to kill her date and had gone to make it up to him or something. When she started stalking out Elijah had just nodded and ignored it. Before he could tell her though, he needed to figure out what was going on.

His mind slowly drifted back to the end of the argument he had caught and that murderous look. Maybe she knew something about whatever Esther's plot was and why Elena was needed. Without another thought Elijah stood, smoothing out his shirt, before blurring out of the house too quickly for anyone to stop him. No one really noticed though.

It didn't take long for him to reach the Salvatore house but before he could dart into Damon's room a snarl caught his attention. A thud made one of the walls shake slightly and Elijah changed direction, slipping into the hallway he'd been in the day before. It wasn't that he didn't already suspect something but seeing it was a completely other thing.

His brother, his little brother, was making out with Stefan. In the seconds it took for Elijah to get over his shock and bolt upstairs the pair had moved from standing in the middle of the room to humping on the couch, groaning the whole time. That image would scar his mind forever and he knew it.

A low snarl of disgust left his throat before Elijah kept moving upstairs, trying to hear where the other Salvatore was without hearing Klaus. It wasn't that he didn't approve of being with another guy, he wasn't exactly innocent of that, but he definitely hadn't wanted to see Nik dry-humping Stefan on a couch. He shuddered involuntarily before opening the door to Damon's room, scent assaulting him in a wave.

He took a deep breath, composing his scattered thoughts and taking in another lungful of that delicious smell before walking into the room. His eyes ran along the quite well-kept space idly before they landed on the woman he was looking for on the bed.

Her eyes were closed, the ear buds he had noticed quite a few people using jammed in her ears, music blaring. Her nose was wrinkled in disgust at the noise from downstairs that Elijah had to admit was quite disturbing.

"Are you going to keep staring at me or actually say something?" she asked suddenly, eyes opening and meeting his coolly.

He moved to the bed, carefully sitting on the edge, and got straight to the point. "What did my mother and Elena talk about?"

She hesitated for a moment before sighing, "Esther wants to kill you Elijah, all of you."

* * *

Damon could literally see his heart breaking when she told him that his mother wanted to kill Elijah and all his siblings. She tugged her ear buds out, music filling the room, and carefully reached out and rested a hand on his arm.

"Are you sure?" he asked quietly, brown eyes searching her face desperately for any hint of a lie.

"Yes," Damon whispered, hating that shattered look that appeared on his face. Elijah buried it quickly and started to stand but a hand snapped out and caught his, drawing his attention back to her.

She sighed, sliding over to the edge of the bed to look at him easier, and admitted, "You're not the only one whose parent wanted to kill you for something you couldn't control Elijah. My father hated me, even before I turned. I didn't want to be such a disappointment but I was and he wanted me dead. Don't think you're the only one that has parental issues."

Elijah nodded tersely but let himself get tugged closer. Damon's eyes were sad and angry but she managed a tiny smile, knowing what she was about to suggest probably wouldn't go down well. She wasn't even sure why she was suggesting it.

"You can stay here tonight," she blurted. At the eyebrow raise Damon quickly continued, "You're hurting and it's understandable but being alone right now won't help. I just want to make sure you're okay."

For a second it looked like he was going to say no or just plain walk out. Then he sat again, effortlessly unlacing his shoes, and glanced at her with the hints of a smile playing on his lips. Damon smiled back before sliding across the bed again, turning off her iPod as she went and tossing it on the bedside table with her phone.

"Thank you," he murmured, lying down on the other side of the bed and meeting her eyes. "Thank you for your honesty."

She chuckled, slipping under the blankets and looking at the ceiling. "Thank you for not killing me tonight. For a while I honestly believed that's what you were going to do."

Elijah shook his head and they fell into a strangely comfortable silence. Neither of them wanted to be alone, not tonight, and both of them understood what this need was. It was the urge to find someone, anyone, who would understand.

Damon fell asleep first but Elijah didn't take much longer to give into the tiredness that had been aching in his bones since Niklaus had daggered him. When Stefan slunk upstairs to apologize for probably grossing Damon out he found his sister pressed up against the Original's side and Elijah's arm around her. He chuckled softly and let them be.

* * *

Damon yawned, oppressive light burning her eyes through her eyelids, and buried her face into the pillow under her. It felt too firm but she ignored it, just enjoying the respite from the sun and the sweet scent. When she felt her pillow move, however, she couldn't ignore that.

Her eyes snapped open, catching sight of the white rumpled shirt before they slid up and caught Elijah's face. His eyes were open, staring at the ceiling, but besides moving his arm he hadn't made any attempt to get away from Damon.

"Well, this is awkward," she muttered, unsurprised at his lack of response. "What are you thinking about?"

Elijah sighed softly before admitting, "What I'm going to do about Mother."

Damon didn't move, head still resting on his shoulder, and suggested, "Stop her. Don't let her kill you. Seems like a great plan to me."

"And how do you suggest I do that Danielle?" he asked darkly, jaw stiffening.

She sighed before answering, "Find a way to get the Bennet witches to break the bond holding all of you together. Or a way to stop them from being able to help with the spell that'll kill you."

He sat up, gently dislodging her head, and subconsciously smoothed the creases from his shirt with a frown. Damon sighed before sitting up, running a hand through her tangled black hair as she tried to think of how to phrase this.

"Elijah, you won't want to think about this, but you might have to kill her," she said softly, watching his shoulders stiffen in anger.

He stood swiftly, shooting her a dark look, and asked, "Would you be able to kill your mother?"

She hesitated, the blurry memories of her mother Eleanor drifting through her mind, and shook her head mutely. Elijah nodded stiffly, like he'd expected that response, before starting to pull his shoes on.

"If you threatened Elena the witch would agree," Damon muttered as a form of apology for bringing up the murdering Esther plot. "People here would do anything to save her."

He nodded again before blurring out, admitting to himself it was a good idea. Rebekah would be more than happy to help if the plan involved threatening the doppelgänger. Damon sighed before getting out of bed before Stefan had to come and wake her up, heading downstairs slowly. Things never seemed to go right in Mystic Falls. If all the other stuff that had happened wasn't proof enough the hybrid sitting on her couch with a smug little grin was.

"So, I guess we know where Elijah wandered off to then." That was definitely proof nothing ever went right in this town.

* * *

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Enjoy the Delijah cuddles :D

~Klefan-Lover


	10. Abduction and Lies

**A/N: **Extra chapter cause I can't stop writing! It helps distract me from making pointless videos so it's all good :D

**Disclaimer:** If I owned TVD I swear the Chicago time never would have ended with compulsion

* * *

Elena was naïve. Everyone in town knew it and Elijah knew he could use it. It wasn't the most brilliant plan but it would work and hopefully wouldn't get ruined by his sister's hatred for the doppelgänger. If Rebekah could rein in her temper for long enough then their mother wouldn't be able to finish her plan.

He knocked just loud enough for Elena to hear, hands sliding into his pockets as he waited. Humans seemed so slow and she wasn't any different. Elijah could hear every footstep as she walked down the stairs and across the landing to open the door.

"Elena," he greeted coolly, inclining his head slightly when she said his name. "I don't mean to intrude. I was hoping you might accompany me. I want to show you something."

She followed him without even a twinge of disquiet and Elijah almost felt bad for tricking her. When the conversation from last night popped into the forefront of his mind any guilt vanished. If the witches did what they were meant to then Elena would survive and so would they.

They got in a car and drove out into the woods. After he had left Damon that morning he had gone home to enlist Rebekah's help before heading into the woods to find the old cave system. It wasn't hard to find, even after the landscape had changed, and the ground was weakest over one spot. Without letting Elena realise his plan he convinced her to drive out and she did. If Elijah wasn't so serious he might've laughed. Going into the woods alone with a vampire would never end well and she of all people should know that.

"Forgot how much I missed this land," he admitted, looking around with a sense of fondness. This was his home, it always would be.

Elena commented, "I can't even imagine what it must have been like a thousand years ago," as they walked further into the trees.

"You know, your school was built over an Indian village. Where I saw my first werewolf," he informed her, glancing discreetly at the ground to check they were on track. "The town square was where the natives would gather to worship. Matter of fact, near that, there was a field where wild horses use to graze."

"That's incredible," she breathed but Elijah ignored it, simply intoning, "Come," and continuing to walk forward.

He couldn't help the smile as he approached the rocks that marked that they were above the cavern. Despite everything his memories of being human were clear and sharp and those times he spent away from the village, running through those tunnels, were some of the happiest. As he had grown older the memories had darkened and turned bitter but those times in the cavern had always been treasured.

"Do you know this place too?" Elena asked as Elijah reached out, running his hand over one of the rocks.

"I do. Below us is a cavern I use to play in as a boy," he explained, turning back to her and gesturing around them. "Connects to a system of tunnels that stretch across the entire area."

He crouched down, catching some of the brush on the floor of the woods in his hands as memories continued to bloom in his mind. Those caves had first been his sanctuary from his father's anger. Then they had been his family's sanctuary from the wolves.

"Perhaps it's nature's way of providing us with shelter against the savagery of the full moon. My mother said there must be a balance."

He could hear Elena shifting slightly as she mumbled, "Elijah, I should probably go home."

"I admire you, Elena," he told her as he stood, not deigning her comment about going home with a response. "You remind me of qualities I valued long before my mother turned us." Elijah still didn't look at her, listening for any sign that they had been followed. "It's not in your nature to be deceitful and yet when I asked about your meeting with my mother the other night, you lied to my face."

Her silence was tantamount to an admission and he glanced over at her, meeting her eyes and privately wishing she was a better liar. This was just sad.

"That's not true," she finally managed to get out, still clearly lying. "I told you that all your mother wanted was a new start."

Elijah glanced down during that particular lie before his eyes snapped up to meet hers and he deadpanned, "I can hear you heartbeat. It jumps when you're being dishonest with me." He walked closer, continuing, "You lied to me at the ball, you are lying to me now. Tell me the truth."

Elena was trapped and they both knew it. Her heart was racing, a distracting pounding, and Elijah focused on her eyes as she whispered, "I never wanted this to happen."

"What, Elena?" he asked, all hints of kindness gone.

She took a breath before explaining quickly, "We were told that whatever was going to be in that coffin was going to kill Klaus. When we found out that it was your mother…. We didn't know what to think."

He'd known it would come to this already but the words slipped out of his mouth, unbidden and unwanted. "Since her return she says she only wants this family whole again."

"When she asked to see me, I… I thought that maybe she could help. That she would find a way to kill Klaus." She paused, noticing the stiffening of his shoulders. "But it's not just Klaus that she wants to kill."

Elijah questioned, "She wants to kill us all, doesn't she? She wants to undo the evil she created." He needed to know Damon had been telling the truth despite the overwhelming evidence proving her right already. He needed to know for sure.

"I'm so sorry, Elijah. I wish there was something I could do to help." That was all he needed to hear.

"You know, one thing I've learned on my time on this Earth… be careful what you wish for," he warned before ramming the heel of his shoe into the ground, grabbing Elena as it crumbled and jumping down into the cavern with her.

In seconds he was gone again, leaving her with Rebekah. If this plan was going to work than he needed to warn Damon that he'd listened to her and that Elena would live, at least until the moon rose. After that Rebekah was going to tear her throat out.

* * *

"I can't find her anywhere," Stefan blurted the second Damon picked up the phone. Despite whatever it was her little brother had with Klaus he was still out looking for Elena. Luckily he hadn't been home when she and Elijah had been planning and Klaus hadn't told him.

Damon chewed her lip for a second before muttering, "I'll call Ric, see if he knows anything. Just keep looking. We'll find her Stefan."

She hung up quickly and sighed, leaning against the fireplace. She didn't want to lie to Stefan, not anymore but she was. It the best thing she could do though. He may be with Klaus and over Elena but losing her would still hurt hm. Knowing Damon had helped get her killed would make it even worse.

"Lying to your cousin doesn't come easy to you, does it?" an accented voice asked and Damon glanced over, meeting Elijah's eyes with a frown.

Without a second's thought she retaliated, "Is lying to your family easy for you?"

Elijah shook his head slightly, crossing to the fireplace quickly. Oddly Damon didn't flinch at the proximity, part of her revelling in the closeness, as Elijah stared into the unnecessary fire in thought.

"What if the Bennet witches don't cooperate?" he asked softly, glancing over at Damon. "Can you just let Elena die, knowing it will hurt Stefan?"

Her blue eyes hardened as she answered, "She's nothing but trouble. If she has to die, then she has to. Stefan has Klaus now, it'll hurt but he'll survive."

The Original nodded in understanding before questioning, "What are you going to tell him when he returns? If you are trying to protect him he can't know you suggested this."

"I was half-asleep," Damon pointed out, folding her arms defensively. "You're the one who listened to the half-asleep vampire."

Elijah started to retort, distracted by the little pout on the younger vampire's lips, before their supernatural hearing picked up the distinctive sound of Stefan's Porsche. Damon stepped back quickly, not having realised exactly how close they had been, and glanced at the door as Stefan shoved it open and immediately walked towards her.

"Hello, Stefan," Elijah greeted in mock-politeness, unimpressed by the glare. Before he could announce what was going on Damon interrupted, scowling. "He has Elena."

The interruption irked him so he corrected, "Actually, she's with Rebekah. As you can imagine, my sister is just dying to tear her throat out. So… if you want to save Elena's life, I need you to help me stop my mother. Unfortunately, even when killed my mother doesn't seem to want to stay dead. Not with the spirits of nature at her side."

"So, what are we supposed to do?" Stefan asked, seemingly determined to do anything to save Elena. It was kind of sad, in Damon's eyes, that her brother had some sort of thing with the oldest hybrid in existence and was still trying to save Elena. Then again, maybe the thing had just been a one-night tension-release thing.

Damon had started to zone out during her rather disturbing thoughts and barely caught Elijah announcing, "That line needs to be broken."

In a moment of utter naivety or maybe stupidity the younger Salvatore repeated, "Broken?"

"Yeah, he means," Damon started, trailing a finger over her slender neck for emphasis, not noticing Elijah's eyes following that trail.

"You want us to kill them," Stefan breathed, eyes narrowing in anger."

"You know I'd do it myself, but I have absolutely no idea where they are," Elijah pointed out, stepping further away from the fireplace as his distraction, "Besides, seeing me, they'd immediately know my intent. They won't expect to be harm by the likes of you. In any case, you have until six minutes after nine to find them."

"Oh, how super specific of you," Damon mocked, internally flinching at the dark look Elijah sent her. It was just part of the plan.

"By 9:07, the moon will be full, my mother will have the power she needs to kill me and my family. If you do not stop her before then, Rebekah will kill Elena," he paused for a second, letting it sink in. "So we all have our timeline? I suggest you get started."

He left quickly to warn Klaus and Kol, wherever they were. If this plan was going to work they needed to know about Esther. Elijah was just slow enough to catch Stefan's last comment to Damon before the sound of a fist hitting filtered into his ears.

"So, you and your Original boyfriend are having troubles?" Stefan mocked, the comment slipping out in a moment of bitterness.

Before he could apologize or even think twice about what he'd said a fist collided with his jaw hard, the crack echoing through the room. His hand snapped up to cradle the rapidly-healing fractured bone, eyes wide in shock.

Damon folded her arms, knuckles throbbing with hairline fracture, and retaliated, "I'm not the one here sleeping with an Original."

"That's definitely not what it looked like last night."

Before either of them could let the argument turn nasty Damon's phone buzzed, a message from Ric lighting up the screen and bringing them back to the problem at hand.

'Have you found her yet?'

* * *

Thanks for reading. Reviews is more chapters and Delijah loving!

So. Stefan just got snippy all of a sudden O.o

~Klefan-Lover


	11. Betrayal and Goodbyes

**A/N: **So this chapter kind of grew and did it's own thing. My muses are insane *nod*

**Disclaimer:** If I owned TVD Elena would not be causing so many problems

* * *

"Clock's ticking," Damon reminded, eyes still stormy as she walked into the basement. "You gonna help me brainstorm a plan or are you too busy fixing yourself a snack?"

Stefan was still looking down at the blood bag in his hands but muttered, "We need to call Bonnie. There's got to be a way for her to stop Esther from channelling all that power."

"A: What if she's with Esther?" Damon started, ready to enter full rant mode. "B: What if she can't cut her off? C: I don't know how any of this stuff works and D: neither do you!"

"You got a better plan?" her brother asked, finally looking up from the freezer full of blood and meeting her eyes.

She sighed softly before replying, "Worst case scenario, simple mechanics. Can't draw power from a dead battery."

Stefan nodded slowly, reiterating, "Kill them."

"If it comes to that," Damon agreed, reaching forward and snagging the blood bag from her brother's hands. As Stefan thought through everything, probably trying to come up with a better plan, she sank her fangs in through the plastic and drank quickly. In seconds the bag was empty and Damon passed it back, licking the excess blood off her lips as Stefan drew a blank.

"There's got to be another way."

"Well, what if I told you I had a less diabolical plan," Damon asked, shoving down a wave of hesitance as she raised the silver dagger she had pulled from Elijah. Part of her didn't want to even consider this but if it gave them time to save Elena that was what mattered. Losing her would hurt Stefan too much.

His eyes widened slightly as he asked, "You want to dagger Elijah?"

"They're all linked. One goes down, they all go down," she explained, trying to justify her idea. "The witches live, Elena's safe, problem solved."

"We don't know if that'll affect Klaus," Stefan protested and Damon knew exactly what the real meaning was. He didn't want his werewolf boyfriend unconscious.

"Yeah, well, ironically, Klaus isn't our current problem," she pointed out, fiddling with the dagger.

He was grasping at straws when Stefan objected, "But the dagger is lethal to any vampire who uses it."

"Well, luckily we know a hunter who's just crazy enough to try it," she smirked, pulling out her phone and waving it in Stefan's face. "So, all I need now is a Stefan-shaped distraction for the hybrid. Going to help?"

* * *

"They're still there right?" Damon asked, ignoring the background noise from the Grill and focusing on her only friend's voice.

Ric replied, "Yeah, they've drunk through about half of the liquor supply but they're here."

She nodded, checking her watch and trying to guess if Stefan would be at the Grill yet as she muttered, "Good. This'll be easier if they're wasted."

"So what's the plan?" he asked, straight to business. From the sound of things he was almost pacing and Damon rolled her eyes.

"Divide and conquer," she explained, checking her watch again. "First we'll need a little distraction for Klaus. Should be there any minute."

Ric hung up without another word and Damon snorted, slipping the phone in her pocket and grabbing a packet of blood for plan B. You can't draw energy from a dead battery and a vampire was definitely dead when it came to magic. Then again, a corpse was definitely dead too.

Damon walked out to her beloved Camaro, gunning it and quickly peeling off for the Grill. If this plan had any chance of working they had to get Kol's body out of there. With Stefan playing distraction that left it up to her.

* * *

It felt like there was a dagger sliding into his heart. The gasps of pain escaped involuntarily as he fell to his knees, grasping his chest. His mind raced as he braced himself with one hand, struggling to figure out what had gone wrong in the time until this paralysed him. Damon. Damon had the dagger and they were all linked. He was gone now but Stefan was still there and so was Danielle.

"Danni," Elijah managed to choke out before he collapsed, eyes closing as the dark grey veins ran up along his neck to cover his face.

* * *

She was waiting in the alley, waiting for Ric to drag out the Original. Her eyes kept darting up towards the stairs, expecting Klaus to pop up any second in a bout of spectacularly bad-timed coincidence.

"Here, take him," Ric grunted, having trouble pulling the surprisingly heavy body.

Damon moved closer, chuckling, "Tell the sexy doctor good work."

Before he could take Kol someone blurred down the stairs, ripping the dagger free and throwing Ric into the wall. Stefan was right behind Klaus, snarling low, and Damon felt a little bit guilty when her brother was thrown into a wall. Then the pissed hybrid turned to her and those feelings quickly evaporated.

"I should kill you," Klaus mused, moving slightly closer.

It seemed he wasn't in on the whole 'Esther hates you all' secret and she decided to inform him, countering, "Do it. It won't Esther from killing you."

His blue narrowed and darkened as he stalked closer, asking venomously, "What did you say about my mother?"

"Didn't you know Elena and your mummy are friends?" she sniped, watching his eyes grow angrier. "They have one thing in common. They both want you dead."

Klaus snarled, taking that one last step forward as his hand snapped up, ready to rip out her heart. Part of her as expecting it, almost okay with it, but when Damon saw Elijah at the top of the stairs, dark veins still retreating, she relaxed slightly.

"Leave her," the eldest Original commanded, watching Klaus turn from the woman that had betrayed him again. Knowing she had had something to do with this daggering idea hurt more than he liked but he shook it off, turning his attention to his brother and continuing, "We still need her Niklaus."

Damon stepped back slightly, watching Klaus ask, "What did Mother do?" When a response wasn't immediate he repeated, "What did she do Elijah?"

Elijah's eyes darted to Damon's as he moved down the stairs, barely avoiding stepping on the other Salvatore, and pulled his phone out of his pocket. Her eyes were defiant but there was the slightest hint of guilt under the cockiness and that just made it worse.

"You tell me where the witches are or I'll have my sister kill Elena right now," he threatened, walking to her. His voice wasn't as strong as normal and Damon noticed, feeling a pang of guilt she didn't want to analyse. It's not like they would have left them daggered even if Klaus hadn't intervened so it shouldn't matter.

The old clock's ticks were silent to everyone but the vampires and she looked up deliberately, drawing attention to the time and giving herself a quick reprieve from Elijah's angry and almost hurt stare.

"You told me we had until after nine," she protested, looking back at him and hating the look in his eyes. Betrayal.

"I'm sure Rebekah will be more than happy to start her work early."

* * *

Elijah's threats had definitely hit Stefan, much to Klaus' visible annoyance. Damon didn't bother trying to mend bridge there, grabbing her brother's arm and pulling him up the stairs to the Camaro as Kol started to stir. Despite her determination not to even acknowledge the people she had betrayed Damon's eyes flicked back to Elijah, trying to convey that she was sorry. If he got the message he didn't respond to it, turning to his brother's as Klaus started to check on the youngest of the males.

Damon sped off towards the old witch house, hating the silence in the car. This plan had been hers. It had been her fault Klaus had thrown Stefan into a wall. It was her fault Elena could die at any moment. Another fuck-up of a plan for Damon Salvatore.

She pulled up and looked over at Stefan, asking "So how do we know they're going to be at the old witch house?"

"We don't. But if they're not, then we have about ten minutes until Rebekah tears Elena apart," Stefan pointed out, slightly bitter.

"You know, if we sit this out, Esther completes her spell," Damon started, trying to skirt around the idea of Elijah dying. "Klaus dies, you get your revenge. It's what you wanted basically the whole time you've been back. The only collateral damage is…."

He sighed, looking out the window. "Elena."

"You know what she'd choose," she muttered, looking towards the old witch house.

Stefan admitted, "She'd let herself be killed to save her friend."

At Damon's mute nod he mused "If we do this, it'll wreck her."

"Well, she'll hate us anyway. Thing is, she only has to hate one of us," she looked over at her brother, hoping he understood what she was proposing. "Only one of us has to do the actual deed."

But of course, Stefan is his usual thick self and refuses to accept she's giving him an out and asks, "So, who's it gonna be, brother?"

With a barely repressed growl Damon pulled out a coin, showing it to her brother and announcing, "Heads I do it, tails you do it."

"Awful lot of effort for someone who pretends not to care about her anymore," he commented dryly, face not changing as she retaliated, "Pot, kettle, brother."

Stefan didn't say anything else so Damon flicked the coin, knowing that it was going to be her even if Stefan lost. She honestly didn't care whether Elena hated her or not, whatever chance they'd ever had was gone now. But Stefan still had a chance to be with his doppelgänger so Damon would take the hatred so she could heal and fall into her brother's arms without a complaint. He was always more important.

The coin landed and the two Salvatore exchanged glances before getting out silently and walking through the trees. For once the younger didn't argue and Damon was glad. Then again, he still thought he'd be killing one of them. She could hear them talking as he and Stefan slipped into the witch house, glad it was night and the ghosts couldn't screw with her daylight ring. Her brother nodded once before darting downstairs to Bonnie, leaving Damon to stalk Abby and eavesdrop.

"Stefan, I- I can't stop her. She's channeling us!" Bonnie cried, catching her attention, and Damon darted forward, wrapping an arm around Abby's shoulders and she bit her wrist.

Before the witch could scream a wrist was jammed in her mouth and the instant Damon was sure there was enough blood she promised, "This will only hurt for a second," before snapping her neck and watching her fall.

* * *

Damon left first, making Stefan explain the situation. It was a last-ditch attempt to get away from the Bennett's before Judgy did something violent and painful but it was also trying to find a chance to mourn something. They were the only witches that might be able to help. Now they never would and she'd be stuck like this forever. No matter how much it had seemed like she was adjusting she hadn't. Damon just wanted things to be right again.

"Is she safe?" she asked as she walked back into the room, picking up the glass of bourbon on the way.

Just as she had thought Stefan was standing there, waiting for her so he could tell her, "Elijah kept his word. Rebekah let her go." That was kind of what she'd expected. Elijah was a man of his word.

"Good. All's right in the world again," Damon snarked, hoping her brother would leave so she could get so plastered she couldn't think and just forget all of this for a while.

"I lost that coin toss, Damon. It should have been me who turned Abby. Why did you do it?" Stefan asked, probably completely oblivious to his sister's mood.

"Cause I'm not blind," she retaliated, voice softening slightly after a second. "I see what's been going on around here. You're hanging by a thread, Stefan. Barely over your last ripper binge and all you want is to be the old Stefan again."

The silence spoke volumes before he argued, "That part of me is gone for good."

"Oh yeah?" Damon scoffed, amused by the ridiculous lie. "How long has it been since you've had a drop of human blood?"

"How'd you know?" Stefan sighed and it was almost insulting. Of course she'd noticed. He was her baby brother for Christ's sake.

Her tone was softer then she wanted as she pointed out, "Spend 146 years with someone, you kind of start to pick up on their tells. Answer the question. How long has it been since your last drink?"

"Since the night I threatened to drive Elena off the Wickery Bridge," he muttered, looking down in an emotion that was all too common on his face. Shame.

"See? You have enough to feel guilty about! Why add to the list?" she asked. This wasn't the way it was meant to go, it was too brotherly, too close, and with what she was considering Stefan needed to hate her. "By the way, you're welcome."

Before he could say anything Damon left, heading straight downstairs and hoping that this would change. She'd wanted to be closer to her brother but now he needed to hate her. If he was going to survive this he needed to feel nothing but hate.

* * *

They were monsters. Esther was right and Elijah couldn't get that thought out of his mind. He was evil and that's all. He claimed to be noble but really, he was just a monster. They were all monsters. He could hear his sister's footsteps on the polished wooden floors but didn't move, staring out the window.

"Where the bloody hell is everyone?" Rebekah asked, walking over to him as her heeled boots clicked on the floor.

His voice was low as he announced, "It's over, Rebekah."

Her voice was shaky as she demanded, "Where's mother?"

"We have no mother," Elijah countered darkly. "Only Esther and Esther was right."

Her voice was confused, trying not to understand, as she asked "What do you mean?"

"My talk of virtue. When it suits my needs, I kill, maim, and torment," he elaborated, turning to her with pained eyes. "Even today, I terrorized an innocent."

"Elena is hardly innocent," Bekah snapped, eyes darkening.

"And I used your hatred of her to get what I wanted," Elijah retaliated, a jolt of pain stabbing through him. "Wielded you like I would a sword. My sister."

She still didn't see it, snapping, "You did it to protect us, Elijah, and rightly so! We deserve to live! We are better than they are."

"Are we? Mother made us vampires. She didn't make us monsters, we did that to ourselves," he almost-whispered before walking back her and outside, all of his supposed morals and justifying thoughts evaporating.

They were all monsters, every single vampire in existence, and it had all started with them. If he really was so noble and strong he wouldn't have started turning people, he wouldn't have helped Niklaus, he would daggered all his siblings before compelling a human to dagger him so that none of them would kill anymore. But he wasn't that noble. If the murders of the past weren't proof enough then the stupid thing he was about to do now.

"Danielle," he sighed before blurring off, heading to the Salvatore house. If he was going to leave he was going to say goodbye to the woman that caught his attention. Then he was gone and probably wouldn't be coming back.

* * *

"I've just come to tell you I'm leaving," Elijah said, voice quiet as he leant on the wall. Damon looked up from the half-full glass of bourbon, meeting his eyes silently.

After a second she asked, "Why would you tell me? I did dagger your brother and basically kill all of your family."

He sighed softly, walking to the couch and sitting down next to her without a word. She flinched away, expecting an attack, and he gave her an annoyed look before slipping the glass from her hand and finishing it.

"You were trying to avoid killing the witch, correct?" Elijah asked, putting the glass on the table in front of them and meeting her eyes. He was still bitter about what she had done but was trying to make sense of it, trying to make sure she hadn't just turned on them.

Damon nodded with a sigh, fiddling with the ring and muttering, "The witches can do something for me, for Damon. He's not here because of some spell and we'll need their help to fix it. I wasn't letting that chance vanish until I had no other choice."

Elijah nodded in understanding, pulling her hand up and looking at the ring. It was Damon's and that was one of the things that had been annoying him since he'd first seen her. Had it only been two days ago? It felt like so much longer. In the time since they'd met his mother had done a spell and tried to kill them all.

After a second he rested their joined hands on the couch, asking, "Is that why you have his ring? I wouldn't think he'd take it off unless he was dead."

"He may as well be," she muttered bitterly, leaning back against the couch and looking at him curiously as Elijah didn't let go of her hand. "I needed their help. Now I'll probably never get it but I don't blame you. You were trying to save your family."

His eyes darkened, still looking at her ring, and sighed, "My family of monsters."

Damon sighed, squeezing his hand and tilting his head up with the other, meeting his eyes sadly. "We're all monsters Elijah. We kill without a thought but guess what? Humans do too. What do you think a serial killer is?"

He almost chuckled at that, eyes still bitter and dark, before a thought drifted through his mind. If he left town and Damon died or was healed before he got back, if he came back, then Danielle would be gone. She was looking down at their hands and Elijah took the chance to memorise her face, committing it to memory. It wasn't enough. If she was going to vanish from his life and there was still definitely the chance he'd die it seemed like a perfect time to be reckless.

"Danni," he said softly, watching as she looked up at him and smiled slightly. Before she could ask anything or he could change his mind Elijah leant forward, kissing her softly.

Damon's eyes widened in shock, mouth opened slightly from when she had been about to ask a question. The Original's aim had either been slightly off or spot on, catching her upper lip between his and landing his lower one squarely in-between hers. The kiss was gentle, light, and it was nothing like she was used to. Before she could really get over her shock he had pulled back, smiling sadly.

"Goodbye Danielle. I don't know when I'll return," Elijah said softly, turning to go.

Her hand snapped out, grabbing his tie and pulling him closer, before Damon teased, "You're not getting out of this house until I get a proper kiss. Not if you're going to leave tonight."

His eyes widened as he asked, "Why? You're the one who insisted I stop courting you."

Damon honestly had no clue why the fuck she was encouraging this except maybe her possible impending death but replied, "Knowing you, you're going to vanish and I'll never see you again. Consider me curious."

Elijah hesitated for a second before kissing her again, pulling her closer. If he was going to run and leave this strangely familiar and fascinating person behind he may as well make the most of it before he lost her.

* * *

A/N: So yeah, you wanna hear the conversation between me and my muses on this chapter?

Me: Damon, Elijah! Would you just stick with the plot-line I have?

Damon: We do what we want! *pounces on Elijah*

Me: Okay, gtfo. If you aren't gonna co-operate I'll just write Klefan! You guys aren't meant to be shoving your tongues down each other's throats yet -_-

~Klefan-Lover


	12. Sneaking and Prisions

**A/N: **To anyone who wants to know when Elijah finds out the truth, don't panic. I have it planned and half-written already and I have a partial chapter for some angsty Delijah afterwards. I haven't exactly decided when but don't worry, Elijah learns the truth. And I'm leaning towards bringing male Damon back so slash shippers, don't stress. There will be slashy goodness later on with the way the story is progressing in my mind.

I have about three weeks of school left and heaps to get done so if the chapter's seemed rushed or are a little shorter than usual I'm sorry but I'll be on holidays soon and I won't have to worry about assignments. I may get work during the holidays but I'll still have way more time to work on my fanfiction stuff.

Also, can you guys review? Not getting feedback is making me a little worried that you hate it so far and I would really love to hear from you all.

**Disclaimer:** If I owned TVD Elena would not be causing so many problems

* * *

He hadn't planned on leaving while she was still asleep. It felt like sneaking and Elijah wouldn't condone sneaking out of her bed after what they had shared the night before. His eyes darted around the room, settling on a notebook and pen thrown carelessly on the table. Considering how ordered the rest of the room was it seemed odd but he didn't dwell on it, reluctantly sliding out of Damon's arms that were wrapped around his chest and crossing to the table.

She mumbled softly behind him as he quickly pulled on the rumpled suit pants before sitting and starting to write. If he did have to leave then she deserved an explanation of some kind, no matter how pathetic it would seem. Elijah wrote quickly before glancing over at Damon again, noticing the phone on the nightstand. He didn't particularly like to use phones but had one anyway, one of Klaus' demands.

Elijah stood, crossing silently to the bed and easily navigating through the phone to the Own Number section and memorising it in seconds. If he did miss her at least he might be able to talk to her if she answered. If she wanted to talk to him.

He returned to the desk, finishing the short letter and singing it before pulling his suit jacket on with a frown, glancing around for his shirt but not finding it. With a sigh Elijah slid out into the hallway, putting the letter down before knocking on the door. In seconds he was gone, regretting having to leave so soon. There was so much more he wanted to know.

* * *

Damon yawned when she heard knocking on her bedroom door, eyes fluttering open slowly as she reluctantly woke up. Her bed felt a hundred times more comfortable this morning and she reluctantly got up, pulling on boxers and a shirt with a slight wince and shuffling to the door.

"What?" she grumbled, opening it as she rubbed her eyes tiredly.

A quick glance around the hallway showed no one was there and Damon growled in pure annoyance before spotting the letter on the floor. Without even reading the writing she knew who it was from and picked it up, retreating back into her room and the bed that hadn't been empty when she'd fallen asleep.

_Danielle,_

_I apologize for my abrupt departure. I planned on waiting until you woke to leave but I did not want Niklaus finding me and trying to force me to stay. I do not believe staying in this town right now is wise for me. _

_I also feel the need to apologize for what happened last night. I do not regret our actions, far from it, but I do regret that it happened right before I left. I truly do have an interest in you and I swear I was not just using you last night. It does not matter though. I doubt you'll still be in town if I return. I will not be upset if you do not wish to speak to me if you are still in Mystic Falls._

_I trust that you will stay safe, sweet Danni. I am also sure that you will find a way to save your cousin. He was never exactly my favourite person but I would not wish Damon dead. There's a cure out there for anything and you can find it. You're almost as determined as he is._

_Elijah_

Damon sighed softly, crumpling the letter in her fist before tossing it, watching it rebound off the wall and landing neatly into the bin. Elijah may be sure that he'd be fine but she wasn't. If he really knew what was going on he would've ripped her apart by now.

Her phone went off and she grabbed it, answering emotionlessly, "Yes?"

"I need you to come to the police station," Ric replied quickly, voice nervous.

"Why?" she asked, already looking around for jeans despite the fact part of her didn't want to move from her room and just take her ring off and open the curtains.

The pause was worrying and annoying before the mostly-retired vampire hunter admitted, "Sherriff Forbes arrested me."

She hung up without answering, yanking a pair of jeans on and trying not to grumble at the fact they were probably dirty. A shirt was half-under the bed and Damon picked it up with a frown, not remembering ever having a shirt like that. A sniff proved it was Elijah's but she pulled it on anyway, buttoning it up quickly before bolting downstairs and outside.

The things she did for that damn hunter.

* * *

Sherriff Forbes didn't seem happy about letting Damon in to see Ric but when she just blurred past her and leant against the wall next to the cell, giving her a 'I'm a Salvatore' look she gave up. From what the story said it seemed to prove Damon's theory about Meredith being a psycho sexy doctor.

"I didn't do it," Ric protested, looking at the two of them, still looking a little weak despite the vampire blood.

"You're arresting him for what this nut job Dr. Fell says?" Damon snapped, glaring at Forbes darkly.

She looked between the two of them, slightly confused, before retaliating, "No, I'm detaining him. The cell is for his own good. You were shot; Dr. Fell used vampire blood to heal you."

The two of them started arguing and Damon just stood there for a minute until asking, "Are we gonna ignore the part where he is one of the killer's victims? I mean, the guy was practically stabbed to death."

"Well, Dr. Fell suggested his wounds could have been self-inflicted."

That, of course, started another argument and she really didn't have the patience to put up with it. The second Sherriff Forbes mentioned they had no proof Damon snapped, "Well then we'll find some."

"No, just stay out of this," Forbes argued, giving her a mistrustful look. "You getting involved is only going to make matters worse."

"Listen, Sherriff," she started, hating being a girl even more at that moment.

Before Damon could finish Liz snapped, "Don't make me put you in that cell with him!" before pointing down the hall, not brooking any argument.

The vampire sighed, giving Ric what was hopefully a reassuring look before going upstairs, heading into the main part of the station. The plan was to get the hell out of there, find proof to save Alaric and then fix the whole curse thing. Running into Elena didn't feature anywhere in that plan.

"Were you just..?" she asked and Damon nodded, interrupting, "Ric's fine. Sheriff wants me to stay out of it."

Elena looked up at her with those big brown eyes and asked, "But you're not going to. Are you?"

She needed to get rid of that hopeful look in her eyes, that look that screamed 'You're meant to be the hero,' and shrugged, "Seems just as good a plan as any."

"Your friend's in jail for murder," she protested. "You have to do something."

"Well, I guess I could rip out Dr. False Accusation's throat," Damon mused, honestly considering it. "Maybe her tongue. You know, I could chew it up into little tiny pieces and feed it to the squirrels."

"Stop it, Damon!" Elena snapped, folding her arms indignantly.

"Guess me staying out of it suddenly sounds like a good idea, doesn't it?" she mocked before pointing out, "I saved your life last night. You're welcome."

Elena growled, "You know, you could show a little compassion about Bonnie."

"I know, you're right, her and her mom must be really hurting right now," she snarked, tapping her chin. "Should I send lasagna?"

"Okay, now you're just being mean," she warned, glaring darkly.

"I'm mean, you hate me, the Earth is back on its axis," Damon snorted, watching Elena turn to go. It should've hurt so much more, watching her walk off all high and mighty. But only the tiniest pang hit the vampire, knowing that this was what they had always been heading towards. The older Salvatore had never been good enough for her.

Her fingers slid over the ring before Damon shook her head, slipping her hands into his pockets and walking out into the sun. There was snooping that needed to be done.

* * *

Damon could hear the annoying tapping from Stefan's ring the second she entered the house and headed upstairs. In this town nothing ever went right and plenty of the things that happened were somehow connected to magic. The last time Mystic Falls had this amount of non-animal attack murders was a long time ago but Stefan had probably written down something about it. He always seemed to.

"Dear diary, a chipmunk asked me my name today," Damon announced, leaning on the doorframe and looking at Stefan writing away. "I told him it was Joe. That lie will haunt me forever."

Her brother snapped the diary shut, standing and crossing to the shelf to put it away as he asked, "What do you want?"

"I was hoping we could hang. You know a little brother-sister bonding," she smirked, watching Stefan. "I know we don't actually hang out. We team up, we join forces, we activate our Wonder twin powers."

She held up her ring, waving her fingers, before moving to the bookshelf. Stefan always hated Damon going through his journals but she trailed her fingers along the spines of the books, trying to remember what year she was looking for.

"What are you doing?" her brother sighed, watching with folded arms.

"Digging up clues. Most of the Originals are gone, but now we have a who-done-it in town. Do you remember when we came back for Zachariah's funeral?" she answered quickly, trying not to think about Elijah and just stay focused on the whole serial killer thing.

Stefan shrugged, muttering, "Vaguely. Why?"

"If memory serves," Damon explained, still looking at the books. "He wasn't the first founder's council member killed that year or even that month."

"Your point being?" the younger asked tersely, looking like he was ready to pull his sister away from the shelf any second.

"I'm trying to remember what year it was," she muttered, giving him a look.

"1912," Stefan answered immediately, completely positive.

Damon snorted, pulling the right diary off the shelf as she teased, "So much for vaguely." She pulled the diary off the shelf and tossed it to Stefan, watching as he caught it with a little eyebrow raise.

She leant against the shelf, elaborating, "1912. Or as I like to call it, last time Mystic Fall's had a serial killer on its hands."

Her brother opened the diary, skimming through the pages as Damon watched. Knowing her brother, he didn't even remember it. That was his second ripper binge or the second major one anyway.

"What do you say, brother?" she asked, pushing off from the wall. "You wanna go get drunk?"

Stefan looked up before sniping, "Ahhh, I get it, I get it. You're bored. Your best friend's in jail, Elijah's gone and you don't have anything better to do with yourself."

"Well, there's that and I was hoping you could help me solve a murder," Damon retorted, grabbing the journal from her brother's hand and walking out into the hall, knowing Stefan would follow. There was no way he'd ever let her go anywhere with his journal without supervision.

* * *

They drove to the Mystic Grill, barely touching the one subject Damon wanted to talk about. Instead Stefan was trying to figure out how many of the Originals were still in town, threatening the precious doppelgänger. It seemed that her brother and Klaus were still on the outs after the whole daggering thing and a slight pang of guilt hit Damon again. She'd been selfish and might have screwed up something important for her brother.

As they were pulling up her phone vibrated and Damon tugged it out, glancing at the caller ID quickly. Unknown Number. With a sigh she waved Stefan towards the building, waiting until he was half-way across the road.

"Yes?" she asked a little tersely, resting her head on the headrest and staring at the roof of her Camaro idly.

"Danielle," he greeted quietly, the accent a dead give-away to the identity of the caller.

She sighed, another one of those fucking annoying guilt pangs hitting her, and replied softly, "Elijah. I wasn't expecting to hear from you."

There was a pause, punctuated by static, before Elijah said carefully, "I wasn't sure you'd wish to hear from me after my abrupt departure. Niklaus was explaining some events to me and I wanted to check you and your cousin were okay."

"We're fine," Damon reassured, glancing over at the entrance to the Grill where Stefan was waiting impatiently. "In fact, we're about to get a few drinks together, just try to relax."

"I suppose I should let you go then," he mused. "But first I would like to apologize again."

She sighed deeply, the quiet but genuine guilt in his voice making part of her want to spill everything right then. Keeping her ego intact wasn't worth this, not with the plan she had.

Damon quickly said, "Elijah, there's things you need to know before you start apologizing or feeling guilty. I can't tell you now but I will."

Before the Original could argue she hung up, quickly getting out of her car and heading across the road to meet Stefan. He took the journal from her with a frown and walked inside, leaving Damon to follow him. She glanced around the room, catching sight of Rebekah talking with Mayor Lockwood and couldn't resist a comment.

She nudged Stefan lightly, jerking her chin at the Original and warned, "Oh, She-Devil at nine o'clock."

Her brother gave Damon an unimpressed look before continuing to the bar. She rolled her eyes but followed him, sitting next to Stefan and sliding the diary away from him, making sure she still had some form of leverage to keep him there as she ordered a bottle of whiskey.

"So what does a medical examiner, Bill Forbes, and Alaric Saltzman have in common?" Damon asked as the bartender left the bottle on the table.

Stefan ignored the question, tapping his ring on the edge of the bar and she sighed before complaining, "Come on, knock it off."

He gave her a dirty look but stopped tapping, pouring himself a large drink and starting to down it straight away. Stefan always got like this after his ripper binges. In the past Damon had never done anything to even try and help, she'd just left it all up to Lexi. Now Stefan's little guardian vampire wasn't there and it was her fault.

"You know, quitting blood cold turkey after a ripper binge might not be the best approach," she ventured, taking the bottle and having a mouthful before continuing. "Every time you play that all or nothing game, you eventually leave a trail of bodies. So, I'm thinking, now is a good time to pay our old friend moderation a visit."

"They were all on the Founder's Council, Damon. That's what they all have in common," Stefan replied, ignoring the advice determinedly.

Damon scowled but didn't try and force him to listen, retorting, "But why them? Huh? Brian Walters and Ric weren't from founding families. I mean, hey, if you're gonna slaughter council members, go A-list. At least in 1912 they killed a Salvatore."

The heels had made an annoying clacking on the floor as she'd gotten closer but neither of the Salvatores had really paid attention, not considering that it could be someone who'd cause trouble for them.

When that vaguely British accented voice broke into their conversation, "Which Salvatore would that be?" they instantly realized their mistake.

* * *

~Klefan-Lover


	13. Discoveries (Part one of chapter 12)

**A/N: **This is only part one of this chapter, I didn't want to leave you with absolutely nothing but I didn't have enough time to get this done fully. Part two will be up next week

**Disclaimer:** If I owned TVD Elena would not be causing so many problems

* * *

There were roughly twenty-seven messages on his phone from Niklaus since he had last deleted them all. All of them varied between angry or pleading and part of him ached at knowing he had hurt his brother again. He never wanted to hurt his family.

Despite Danielle's attempts to convince him otherwise Elijah was still convinced that his family was full of monsters and nothing could make that better. He shouldn't still be in town. He really should be as far away from Klaus as possible but instead he was doing something that did nothing to make him feel like less of a monster.

Asking questions about the Salvatore's was too dangerous for him. It would get around to the rest of his family and then he'd get chased down. Knowing Niklaus he'd end up in a coffin for the next fifty years at least. Fortunately most of the people in the town weren't on vervain so he could get someone to find the books he needed for him.

It was dark in the alley and as he waited for the books he let his mind wander, for a second feeling a dull amusement at the fact he was skulking in an alley like a creature from one of the many awful paperbacks filling the shelves these days before his mind continued wandering.

Something still wasn't quite making sense about Danielle. He wanted to trust her, he did, but not completely. The story had made less sense after last night. When they'd first got into the room he hadn't been paying attention, distracted by the fact that mere seconds after he'd closed the door Danni was on her knees, opening his pants. It wasn't until he'd woken up in the morning that Elijah had realized that she had led him to what had to be Damon's room. He hadn't even really realized until after he'd left.

That was her cousin's bed that she'd pulled him to. He'd been so focused on how good she felt and the noises flooding his ears that he hadn't even noticed the fact Damon's clothes were sitting in the basket they'd almost tripped over. If they were cousins why did she use his bed for sex? It didn't make sense.

The door across the street opened, the groan of the hinges distinctive from every other door in the street to him, and Elijah looked up as the compelled man wandered down the stairs, books in hand. The Original crossed the street in seconds, positive no one would see him and took the books before starting to compel the man again.

"You'll forget you did this," he commanded, watching the man's already glassy eyes glaze over even more. "Continue with your day and forget you ever saw me."

Before the man could gather his wits Elijah darted away, looking down at the old books. The writing on the cover was worn slightly but he could still read it and relaxed slightly as he was sure the man had gotten the right book. If there was any way of checking her story the Salvatore family history should help.

* * *

She had been real, at least that much was true. Elijah let out a sigh, looking at the names on the yellowed page. Damon and Stefan were on the same line as Danielle, even if she was further to one side. He kept flipping through the pages, hoping for another mention of her. Even better would be a photograph.

There was nothing so far. Most of the photos had been of Damon and Stefan or their father but there wasn't a single one of Danni. It made Elijah suspicious but he could admit that the family resemblance between the Danni he knew and the rest of the Salvatores was definitely there. She looked a lot like Damon, in fact, and it made him chuckle. They were more like twins then cousins and not just in their looks.

He was still musing over that when he turned the page and the picture of a woman caught his eyes. She also looked a bit like Damon and Stefan but the similarities weren't as strong. She definitely didn't look as much as Damon as Danni did and he started to flick past it until he noticed the writing under the image.

_Danielle Salvatore, shortly before the Founder's Ball, 1864_

* * *

~Klefan-Lover


	14. Arrangements (12, part 2)

**A/N: **This is part two. Sorry about the cut-off, I have so much Christmas stuff to do it's not funny and I had my leaver's dinner last night so seriously busy

**Disclaimer:** If I owned TVD Elena would not be causing so many problems

* * *

Rebekah was persistent, Damon had to admit that. She also appeared to be trying to help which neither of the Salvatore's really believed. Not all the Mikaelsons were evil but she definitely had her own agenda which was probably also Klaus' agenda. Stefan had been on edge to whole night until their little row and the whole feeding thing and then he just got pissed. He was guilty and pissed off and didn't seem interested in talking to Damon anymore.

The older Salvatore looked out her window tiredly, rubbing the stiff part of her neck. It always got sore when she was stressed and a sigh escaped her lips. Nothing went right in this fucking town and today was more proof of that. Ric was probably insane, Stefan wasn't going to accept her help and to top it off, she was she and Elijah was either hitting on her or using her. It could be seriously worse considering what had happened before but it was still pretty crap.

Damon crossed to her bed, hesitating before lying down. The bed still smelt like him. It still smelt like both of them really. That darkened her mood further, and she stood again, heading back to the window for a breath of fresh air. It wasn't meant to be like this. It would take years to get Stefan on track with the self-control and she didn't have that long. The spell might have just turned her into a girl but it didn't feel right and she hated it. If she didn't kill herself Elijah would probably rip her heart out for lying to him.

Damon rested her forehead on the window, trying to think of how she could explain this to Elijah without pissing him off too much. She really didn't think, 'Oh hi Elijah, I'm really Damon Salvatore, you know, the guy that helped dagger you once,' would go over well. She growled softly in exasperation, glancing at her phone nervously. Elijah was probably waiting for her to organize their little conversation.

With hesitant fingers she went into her incoming calls, dialing the last number that a call came from. Without even bringing the phone to her ear she could hear the line ringing and half-hoped Elijah wouldn't answer. Unfortunately the always-punctual Original answered in seconds, making Damon want to snarl.

"Danielle," he greeted, voice different from their earlier call. "Do you have time to talk now?"

She sighed softly before explaining, "Not right now. I should be free tomorrow though, so we could meet up here. I don't think there's any big Salvatore drama."

She heard something that sounded like a mixture of a sigh and a chuckle before Elijah asked, "And there is Salvatore drama as you put it tonight?"

Damon trailed her fingers over the window frame, admitting, "Yes. Stefan needs me."

"Well then, I will see you tomorrow," he answered, a little more sharply than she was expecting before hanging up.

She frowned, looking at her phone for a second before walking back to the bed. If she was going to spill to Elijah tomorrow she needed to rest. The vampire took a deep breath, trying to relax, and climbed into her bed reluctantly. She needed sleep but it would probably be a very long time coming for a change.

* * *

The sun was shining through the window, hitting Damon right in the face and she whined, trying to pull a pillow over her eyes. Then she remembered everything. Elijah's scent was surrounding her, memories flooding her mind as she scrambled out of bed, trying to stay calm. This was not going to end well. He was going to kill her for lying to him.

Damon was seriously considering backing out and just trying to keep up the lie when her traitorous mind pushed to the forefront the memory of how worried, how guilty Elijah had sounded some of the times they had talked. She couldn't keep lying to him, not when he felt so bad for what he thought he was doing to her.

Her phone was on the bedside table where she'd left it and Damon grabbed it, quickly typing out a text and sending it to Elijah. It was easier than talking to him, hearing the pain in his voice. Not waiting for a reply, she headed into the bathroom to get cleaned up before the Original arrived.

By the time she had deemed herself presentable Elijah had replied, informing her that he'd be arriving at her house soon but that he couldn't stay long. The woman scoffed slightly, trying to ignore the fear bubbling in the pit of her stomach. This wasn't going to be any easier now. Instead of just having to tell the truth and hope her internal organs remained intact Damon would have to rush through the explanation of something she didn't even understand.

* * *

~Klefan-Lover


	15. Truth and Consequences

**A/N: **Please don't kill me?

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing but a ginger ninja kitten :)

* * *

Elijah was waiting by the door to the Salvatore house, as requested, looking around uncomfortably as he half-expected Niklaus to arrive and drag him home. It wouldn't surprise him at all if his brother was still constantly calling at the boarding house to see Stefan, despite their fight. The hybrid had zeroed in on the younger Salvatore boy and probably wouldn't leave him alone for centuries.

The door opened but the Original didn't jump, inhaling Damon's scent as casually as he could even as he tried to preserve it so he would never forget if this conversation ended badly. How did she mean so damn much to him so quickly? It had been days, maybe a week, and he already missed her this badly, like he was addicted.

"Right on time," she murmured, flashing him a tiny smile before walking past him, leaving Elijah to follow silently.

The air between them was tense as Damon led him around the house to a grassy area and sat, looking up at him and waiting for him to do the same. The Original was sorely tempted to scoff and remain standing but as her look turned slightly pleading he resigned himself to it, settling down next to her carefully.

Her thin fingers were shredding pieces of grass as Damon muttered, "There's a lot I need to tell you, I just don't know how to. I don't know if you'll believe me."

Elijah looked over at her, waiting as patiently as he could manage for the announcement. This was it, he'd finally know what had been bothering him about her for days, and his normal patience was wearing thin. Part of him couldn't help but hope that maybe this wasn't as big of a problem as he had thought. Maybe it was just something little that they were both overreacting to.

"Danielle," he pushed softly, watching her beautiful eyes darken suddenly.

She looked up at him, admitting in a rush, "That's not my name. I'm Damon."

And everything fell apart.

* * *

She could see the shock in his eyes at her announcement and tried to explain, words jumbling together in a way they hadn't since she was a child.

"I woke up like this and I don't know what happened," she blurted. "I was fine and then the next day I was in the wrong body and I just don't know what to do. I didn't want to lie to you but I couldn't let Klaus or Kol find out, or Rebekah for that matter. Your sister hates me."

His brown eyes were focused on a point past her, almost as if he didn't want to see her and that hurt more than Damon wanted it to. This wasn't meant to matter. It shouldn't matter if he chose to walk away right now.

"You should have told me," he stated, voice cold and hard. "Before we slept together."

Damon looked away, admitting, "I went to the ball to mess with you and then I got caught up in it. I never wanted to hurt you."

"I'm not hurt, Damon," he retorted sharply, standing and dusting off his suit. "I'm merely disappointed."

It was stupid but the girl couldn't help but muter, "Your eyes say different."

If he'd still thought it was Danielle Salvatore, Damon's cousin, his hand wouldn't have moved but he didn't. Elijah's hand moved almost before his mind realised it, ramming into the delicate cheek he had littered kisses on only two nights before and sending the woman sprawling to the ground. The sickening crack from her neck didn't escape his notice and the Original stared at the limp body, head at an unnatural angle.

The thoughts running through his head were tinged with guilt as something in him refused to look away as the blood dripped from her mouth. He hadn't meant to hurt her, that had never been his intentions. Part of him had just snapped.

Elijah couldn't take it. With barely any effort he was gone, blurring into the trees and back to his safe house. That wasn't what he had wanted to do. He'd wanted to find out the truth, not snap her neck. Despite the lies the part of Elijah that cared was full of self-loathing for what he'd done. When did it get so easy for him to hurt people?

* * *

Pain. That was the first thing that registered. The second thing was the fact there was something on her face. The third thing was she was lying on the grass and Elijah was gone. Damon sat up slowly, the throbbing in her neck insistent and slightly dizzying, before reaching up to touch whatever was on her face. Being a vampire had its advantages and she immediately knew it was blood. From the looks of things it was her own.

Damon groaned but got up, scraping at the mostly-congealed blood ineffectually as she trudged into the house, realizing she'd lost most of the day. There hadn't been enough blood in her system to get the healing done quickly and the aches and pains proved that. Her pale fingers fumbled with the decanter of what looked like red wine, pulling the stopper out and tipping the liquid into her mouth clumsily.

After a few mouthfuls her mind stopped racing and her aches were soothed enough that she could finally process everything. Elijah must have snapped her neck after she told him the truth. It was the only thing that made sense. The Original had snapped at her admission and hit her hard enough to knock her out for a whole day.

Once the stopper was replaced in the decanter trembling fingers pulled out her phone, not surprised at the long list of messages there. Stefan had been off to deal with the whole 'Ric is psycho' thing and said he'd meet Damon at the Gilbert's once Damon had dealt with whatever she had to deal with. It was actually nice that he hadn't dragged him out but now Damon sort of wished he had. Then there would've been no neck-snapping.

With a sigh she started to play the messages, most of them from a either bored or slightly annoyed Stefan until Damon got near to the end. Suddenly everything was different. Ric had lost it by the sounds of it. He must have, Stefan only sounded like that when he'd been near fresh blood. Meredith had been attacked. Damon shoved the phone back in her pocket and bolted outside, not bothering with a car.

She was meant to be there in the afternoon. Meredith had her tranquilisers but Ric had pointed out having a vampire on hand would be helpful if he did lose control. Someone strong and fast enough to keep him contained and away from the doctor. Unfortunately, Damon had been too busy bleeding onto the grass to help.

* * *

~Klefan-Lover


	16. Sleeping and Spying

**A/N: **Delijah is rather off-rail right now and this chapter may not seem to have much purpose but there's always those boring chapters that are eventually important. R&R please :)

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing but a ginger ninja kitten :) I love my George

* * *

Despite everything Ric looked peaceful as he slept. Damon chuckled at that thought for a minute before pushing it away, mind running over everything that had happened. Elijah knew the truth, had snapped her neck, Ric had lost control and tried to kill his sexy doctor friend and Stefan actually hadn't yelled at her for not being there though that might have been because of the fact he could probably smell Damon's blood on her.

The long and short of it was that everything was screwed. They had to try and find a spell to fix Ric and that would take priority over the turning Damon back into a guy spell and knowing Judgy that meant the older Salvatore would be stuck in the wrong body forever or until Elijah killed her, whichever came first.

The rustling of blankets caught the vampire's attention and she turned back to her only friend as his eyes opened groggily. It didn't surprise Damon. From the sound of it Stefan could have snapped his neck with a little more pressure. What did surprise him was the fact her half-asleep friend managed to give her a look that seemed to ask, 'why were you watching me sleep?'

"Morning," she said, trying to sound like normal. She and Ric had never exactly been the type to complain about relationship problems to each other, even when they were both the correct gender and sane. He had enough problems without knowing about Elijah. All they had to do was just make it through the day, give the hunter something to focus on until Judgy had found the cure.

* * *

Witches were useful, especially if they were treated right. Elijah had learnt that a long time ago and was just now using it for something that didn't concern his rather deranged brother. Asking for a spell that would allow him to spy on Damon may not have been the right thing to do but there were too many questions still. Did everyone else know? What else had happened in their little group since last time he had heard something?

As he put what the witches called a scrying dish down the Original ran through what he had heard from the history teacher and Damon. It seemed his psyche was broken because of that ring's rather interesting ability to bring him back to life when something supernatural was the cause of his death. A broken psyche wasn't easy to fix, even when it hadn't been caused or fuelled by magic.

With a sigh Elijah stood, looking around the room's bookshelves. Most of them were the grimoires of his witches and he knew that there was bound to be something of use in there. He told himself determinedly that he wasn't doing it for them, he was doing it because he definitely had a bad feeling about whatever was wrong with the history teacher. After a thousand years he knew to listen to his instincts and they were telling him to find a fix for the man, and quick.

He knew his witches were bound to be around somewhere, using the shelter he provided to rest in, using it to recover their strength before they returned to protecting their families. He understood their need to return and never argued, only calling on their services when absolutely necessary. Family came first.

It was almost like they could read his mind. Sometimes Elijah was convinced they could, actually but they knew better than to try that. His favourite witch, Kaia, walked in, brushing her fringe out of her eyes and looking at him expectantly. She never failed him.

"I need you to find a spell for me, one that will repair a shattered psyche," he instructed, knowing she really wanted to ask questions and deciding to indulge the curiosity shining in her eyes. "Someone I know was repetitively brought back to life by a ring spelled by a Bennett witch and now he's developed an alternate personality. The other personality is murderous and a possible danger. I have a feeling in time he could become even worse."

She never questioned him and that was another reason he liked her. Curiosity sated, Kaia nodded before walking to the shelves and starting to look for the appropriate spell book. She rarely left this house and if she had a choice Elijah knew she wouldn't leave his side.

With that attended to he left the room, hoping Kaia found something soon. If there was some danger that could be posed from the history teacher's alter ego it would have to be resolved soon, by healing the fracture or by his death.

* * *

"You seem pissed," Ric said, glancing over at Damon as she fiddled with her empty glass.

They had gone back to the hunter's apartment while everything got sorted despite his engagements for the day. They all knew him associating with people probably wouldn't end well and no one knew who Damon was in the new body so they ended up at Ric's.

"I'm not pissy," the Salvatore scoffed, putting her glass down a little more roughly than necessary. "I just had a long day yesterday."

Ric nodded, turning the glass around in his hands before asking, "What happened? Stefan said you were bleeding when you got to the Gilbert house. I overheard him and Elena."

"Elijah hit me," she answered curtly, shrugging like it wasn't important. "I annoyed him and when Originals get annoyed nothing ends well."

The look was surprisingly deductive and Damon scowled, pouring herself another drink. This was one of the reasons they avoided subjects like this, by the vampire's insistence. The two of them settled into silence, only broken by the clinking of glasses as the two friends drank.

After another minute Ric asked, "You slept together didn't you? You always have that little smirk when you sleep with someone and you had it."

"Fuck off."

"Knew it."

With that snippet of conversation they settled back into a familiar but still uncomfortable silence.

* * *

Yes, Elijah is planning a plan. Wow, that was lame

~Klefan-Lover


	17. Arguments and Guests

**A/N: **Another filler loves. Sorry. Anyway, Damon takes care of Ric, Elijah works with Kaia to find a spell before getting a surprise guest. R&R please :)

**Disclaimer:** You know the drill. I own nada

* * *

"Damon, would you stop treating me like a child?" Ric complained, glaring at his friend. "If I didn't know better I'd swear you were mothering me."

The vampire scoffed, holding out a glass of bourbon and sniping, "Good thing you know better, huh? Now drink. Who knows what Judgy's demands will include?"

The teacher took the glass, muttering, "I doubt it will include not drinking."

"Well, she might turn you into a frog."

"I've already had the herbs once Damon."

"Prolonged use might have side effects."

"Yeah, because you know so much about magic."

"Like you know more than me."

"You two argue like a married couple sometimes."

Both their heads snapped towards the voice, catching sight of an amused Jeremy who was trailed by a clearly disapproving Bonnie. An awkward silence followed his comment as Ric shrugged, quickly downing his drink and standing.

"Well, considering I killed him he wouldn't marry me," Damon snarked, putting her drink down carelessly and watching her friend shoot him a dirty glare. "Even if it would be legal now."

Jeremy snorted, putting Judgy's bag of tricks on the kitchen bench as he commented, "Your dead, even if you are a girl now. Necrophilia is illegal."

"Big words for a little kid," she mocked, leaning on the bench and smirking at the youngest Gilbert teasingly. It was so easy to fall back in the mocking routine she had established, the not-quite-brotherly role towards Jeremy, the annoying sometimes-friend for Ric. It was so much easier than thinking about everything was wrong.

Jeremy scoffed, passing Bonnie ingredients as he pointed out, "I'm almost taller than you, bloodsucker."

Bonnie was mixing some herbs together in a mug, explaining something to Ric as she did and the vampire absent-mindedly filed all the information in case he needed to help the teacher at some point even as he threw out snippy retorts for the Gilbert boy. It was easy like this. Lie and pretend everything's okay.

The smell of the herbs was disgusting, even to her, and the face Ric made when he had to drink it made the vampire snicker. A few more warning from the Bennet witch were issued before Damon and Ric were left in the apartment with nothing to do but drink.

* * *

"The Bennet witches' spell won't last," Kaia warned softly, looking at her friend and boss over a table full of ingredients and books.

Elijah nodded slowly, rolling a sprig of rosemary between his fingers. He knew that the spell from an inexperienced witch wouldn't fix something this big, this complicated. It might be temporarily able to repress the effects of this alter ego but not for very long.

"That's why I asked for your help," he reminded softly, pointing down the herb and meeting her warm green eyes.

The witch nodded, looking down at the piles of books littered on the table. So far she hadn't found anything but Elijah wasn't surprised. It had only been a day. She had never failed him before and he was fairly confident this wouldn't be any different.

After a second of silence Kaia ventured, "I was wondering if there was anything else you needed help with."

"No, there isn't," he answered immediately, looking at the ingredients and books.

Her quiet snort caught his attention but the witch didn't push, picking up a book and starting to read again. For a second the Original was torn between asking something and just leaving the room but eventually his curiosity won out. When he noticed Kaia's eyes weren't moving as she 'read' he almost chuckled.

"You know me too well," he pointed out softly, watching her break into a grin. "Please inform me if you find a spell that changes gender. I have an acquaintance who was recently affected by a spell similar to this and do not believe the reversal has been found yet."

"Now, would this acquaintance be the one you slept with or is it a different one?" a mocking voice asked and Elijah looked up, meeting near-identical brown eyes.

"Kol. I wasn't expecting you."

The younger Mikaelson snapped, "Of course not Elijah. You ran away the first chance you got, just like always."

Elijah sighed, standing and getting a firm grip on his brother's should before pushing him out into the hall. He stumbled slightly but straightened quickly, shoving the hand away like it was poisoned or covered in vervain.

"Why are you here Kol?" he asked quietly, unsurprised by his brother's negative reaction. This wasn't the same boy he had carried to the village after he broke his arm.

Kol replied darkly, "You left. You left us with Klaus. Rebekah needs you. She's too dumb to realise it but she does."

The older sighed, chiding, "I know you're upset with Niklaus but he won't dagger either of you again, not now. If you're so concerned about safety then leave."

"It's not my safety I'm worried about!" Kol suddenly exploded, eyes angry. "It's her! She won't listen to a word I say about him even though we all know he's just going to turn on us again. Elijah, you're the only one she'll listen to."

The outburst actually shocked Elijah. The younger hadn't really seemed to care about anyone or anything since he'd gotten turned but here he was, yelling about how they had to find a way to get Rebekah away from Klaus and Elijah couldn't help him. He couldn't help tear his family apart, not after centuries of trying to pull them together.

"Give me a few days, just long enough to try and find this spell," Elijah compromised. "Then we can go back and try and talk to Rebekah."

Kol hesitated before nodding, eyes narrowed and untrusting. Without asking he turned and walked upstairs, clearly planning on staying for a while. Elijah sighed, returning to the study where he had left Kaia to see if he could help. They needed to hurry.

* * *

It wasn't working. Oh God, it wasn't working. It was different than last time he'd been locked in his own head. He could see everything. Damon was asleep on the couch, a glass of bourbon resting precariously on her stomach. A stake was in his hand as he approached her, barely making any noise of the wooden floors.

He was trying to say something, trying to stop moving, but nothing was working. He wasn't in control of his own body. Everything had seemed fine during the day. He and Damon had talked while he graded essays and then they had mocked each other and drunk and everything had been going perfectly. No losses of control at all.

Damon was still asleep. Ric couldn't make a sound as he stopped behind the couch, raising the stake to plunge it into his best friend's heart. He couldn't stop his arm from stabbing downwards, watching helplessly as the stake started to tear through the pale skin.

Suddenly he was pinned to the couch, a snarling vampire's face centimetres from his and despite the rage Ric knew his alter felt he was nothing but thankful. He wasn't sure he could live with himself if he killed Damon.

* * *

Turns out Damon was right about something. That spell was kinda crappy

~Klefan-Lover


	18. Deals and Spells

**A/N: **Real author's note at the end, can't reveal anything

**Disclaimer:** You know the drill. I own nada

* * *

The stake had her blood on it and it made Damon scowl. It was perfectly carved, clearly one of Ric's works of surprising carpentry craftsmanship, and her friend had just tried to stab her with it. If it wasn't for the fact she hadn't been able to fall asleep she'd be dead. As it was the painful stab had healed nicely and Ric was tied to his bed. Damon was determined to keep the hunter there until he was back to normal and then embarrass him by pointing out he'd found the ropes under his bed while he was looking for other weapons.

Bonnie's spell hadn't worked. He hadn't thought it would and in the end he was right. If Ric wasn't in trouble he would've pointed that out to him as well and made sure to mock him for actually believing the novice witch would succeed. Yes, she'd done some pretty amazing stuff like bringing the littlest Gilbert back to life, Damon wasn't going to deny that. But she had no idea what she was doing with this. Anyway, they all knew the whole back to life thing was thanks to the witch's ghosts.

Damon sighed, looking at the piece of wood tiredly. This was definitely not his week. Being a girl, getting her neck snapped, almost getting staked. Definitely not her week. Even when she looked at what was happening with everyone else her mood dropped. Ric was psychotic, Stefan was in love with a hybrid, Elena was jealous and annoyed and everything was just fucked.

She needed to do something. Stefan was her brother, her baby brother, and he was pining after a man that could kill him with one bite. Her best friend had basically lost his mind and a very dangerous Original was probably planning her death. Nothing ever went right in this fucking town.

A groan caught her ears and the vampire stood, leaving the stake on the table and going to check on her human friend. He was already pulling at the ropes stubbornly, eyes wide and a nasty bruise circling his throat. Damon watched his struggles for a minute, amused by how determined Ric was to escape.

"You know, I did tell you that you needed more exercise," she commented dryly, walking over and sitting next to one of his tied legs.

The hunter looked at her darkly, snapping, "You didn't need to tie me up. Wouldn't knocking me out be enough?"

Damon chuckled, shaking her head as she patted Ric's leg before pointing out, "You were a bit insane, worse than your sexy little psycho doctor. If I hadn't tied you up you could've just gone and tried to stake me again."

They sat there in silence again, both of them consumed in their own thoughts, before Ric's moving caught Damon's attention again and her question popped back into the forefront of her mind. Her blue eyes turned to the hunter, sparkling with mischief.

"So Ric, where'd you get the ropes?" she teased, grinning at his embarrassed flush. "I had no idea you were so kinky."

* * *

This hadn't gone according to plan. This was nowhere near her plan at all. Kaia had thought this would've worked out better, a lot better than it did. This was all meant to happen differently and it just blew up in her face. Elijah, despite his clear fondness of her, would kill her if he knew she was involved in this madness.

They knew each other well and she knew him well enough to know that he sketched whatever was on his mind. She also, disturbingly, knew him well enough to know Elijah wasn't overly fussy when it came to gender. If a person interested him they interested him. Despite this Kaia also knew that once or twice he didn't act on his interest because he was slightly uncomfortable that it was a guy that had caught his attention. He had no problems with sexual orientation but everyone else in the bloody world seemed to.

She'd read it all wrong. Those sketches weren't because he was interested in the man, they were because he was working against and then with him. It wasn't an interest of any kind. She'd messed up and thought it would help and all the spell did was piss Elijah off. It was all her fault and the real problem was that the other vampire, Kol, knew it.

"I really should tell my brother what you've been up to," he mused, carelessly flicking through an ancient grimoire. "I'm sure he'd want to know who led to the whole transformation thing."

"He'd kill me," she countered lowly, looking towards the hall nervously. Elijah could be back any second.

Kol shrugged, tossing the book onto the table as he moved closer to the seated witch. He was bored and wanted something to do that would annoy his precious brother but he knew killing the witch would drive him to finding a dagger. The thing was, he was bored and hungry and didn't really want to wait for the blood bags.

"You could do me a favour and I won't tell," he offered, an idea sparking. It would annoy Elijah which was always fun and give him something to eat. "Just let me have a mouthful of you and we'll call it even. I'm starving."

Kaia hesitated before offering her wrist with a long-suffering sigh, baggy sleeve falling back to expose all the lovely little blue veins. Kol chuckled, sitting on the arm of the chair she was occupying and pulling the thin arm up to her mouth. This was definitely going to be fun. He took his time deciding where to bite, hoping to delay long enough that Elijah would walk in on his little witch offering blood. Elijah never argued with Kol's feeding regime but this was his human and the younger brother knew he'd disagree to this.

His face changed right as the door opened and the vampire chuckled, sinking his fangs deep into the tanned wrist and revelling at the taste of her blood. It had a nice little kick in it, quite different than any of the other people he had fed from. It was almost similar to one girl he'd fed from in Italy but that memory was rather fuzzy.

Before he could really start drinking a hand was around his throat, so tight he could feel his bones start to crack and then he was on the other side of the room. Kaia was cradling her wrist to her chest, pressing her sleeve against the still-bleeding puncture marks as Elijah bit into his own wrist, prepared to feed his blood to her.

"I'm okay," she promised, standing and looking over at Kol. "We were curious. I wanted to know what a vampire's bite felt like and he wanted to know if my blood tasted different because of the magic in it." It was a lie but the angry vampire didn't seem to notice.

The younger Mikaelson was already on his feet, wiping his mouth clean as he muttered, "Completely mutual brother. She liked it."

Elijah chose to ignore both of their comments, giving Kaia a reproving look before asking, "Did you find anything of use?"

"I think I found a temporary cure, maybe a permanent one if I have enough of the right ingredients," she answered quietly, walking to the table and holding her wrist tighter. Kol started to zone out, eyes focused on her neck with the pulsing artery. He was even hungrier now.

"We should leave now then, get this taken care of," the older brother insisted, some of his careful mannerisms dropping as he looked between his witch and his brother. "Gather the supplies Kaia, I will drive with you."

She left without another word, presumably going to storage to get what she needed. That left the two Mikaelsons, one with blood still on his mouth. Neither of them said anything at first, Kol unsure about what to say and Elijah focusing his thoughts before he tried to say anything. He was protective of his witch, Kaia was one of the only friends he had, one of the only people he could trust with absolutely anything.

"If you ever touch her again, Kol, I will be forced to retaliate," the older finally warned, hating picking someone over his brother but knowing it was necessary. "She is important to my plans and I need her in good health."

"You made a friend huh?" the younger brother snorted, leaning against the wall. "Do you feed off her or is it just 'you give me spells and I don't kill you'. It if it is your missing out. She's delicious."

Elijah shot his brother a warning look as he walked into the hall, waiting for Kaia and her spell. She had never failed him before and he was positive she wouldn't now. If he asked for something she'd help, that was just who she was. She always wanted to help him, no matter what the price.

* * *

"Would you stop bringing up the ropes Damon?" Ric asked with a tired sigh, leaning back against the arm of the couch.

His friend chuckled but replied, "Nope. It reveals a lot about you, Mr Saltzman."

He sighed darkly, looking over at Damon and pointing out, "Maybe I bought them to tie annoying vampires up."

"Well, annoying vampires would bite you and drain you dry before you tied them up," she said, completely reasonably to her.

"You wouldn't so it'd be fine," he retaliated, slamming the glass down before leaning back against the couch again.

She laughed before a car turning caught her ears and the vampire stiffened, having insisted that no one visit them until they found a new spell, one that would last. With a tilt of her head she was able to discern what kind of car it was, roughly. It sounded like some kind of expensive four-door car, plush interior but plain external appearance. It was the kind of car Stefan would own if he didn't love his Porsche so much.

"Stay here," she commanded, standing and walking to the window. A dark-coloured car was parked there, two figures emerging. One was slight, carrying a heavy-looking bag, while the driver was taller, masculine. She could clearly make out Elijah but the woman was a mystery and no, there wasn't any twinge of jealousy when Damon saw her, none at all.

"We've got visitors," she announced, turning to face the confused hunter.

She didn't bother explaining, knowing the Original would be able to explain whatever his little plan was better than she could. He actually knew what the plan was happened to be the main reason for that theory. Damon crossed to the door, hearing the two sets of footsteps come up through the building. All she could hope was that this wasn't some elaborate plot to kill her and Ric was an added bonus.

The door opened before she touched the handle and the woman walked in, pushing past her and walked to the coffee table, putting the bag down and pulling stuff out with an efficiency clearly bred from repetition. That left Damon staring face-to-face with the Original who snapped her neck mere days ago.

"Elijah," she greeted hesitantly, letting the vampire walk past her and stand next to the woman.

Ric was looking between the two in front of him, hand curled into a fist like he was thinking of fighting but Damon shook her head, looking at the woman curiously. The herbs she was pulling out smelt different to what Bonnie had used and the vampire felt hopeful, even as she felt Elijah's eyes bore into her. He still seemed mad.

"Who are you?" Ric asked quietly, looking at the witch cautiously.

She stopped mixing, looking up for a second as she answered, "A friend of Elijah. He asked for my help in this."

The Original rested a hand on her shoulder lightly and the witch sped up her work, shooting him an apologetic glance. The silence in the room was tense as she worked at her spell, mixing herbs and plants together to make some sort of potion. Damon watched, curious but unsure until she added a very specific herb. Then she moved away a little, positive Elijah would find some way to get vervain on her in a form of revenge.

Elijah looked over at Ric, explaining, "I asked Kaia to find a spell to negate the effects the Gilbert ring had on your mind. Perhaps you should desist in wearing it. It seems to create many problems despite the fact it keeps you alive."

The history teacher fiddled with the mentioned ring, looking at the potion unsurely. Damon couldn't blame him. It smelt awful to a vampire so it probably smelt bad for a human. The witch just held out the glass when the herbs were mixed, pulling a grimoire out of the bag and carefully putting it on the table.

"Drink it and then I'll fix your head," she commanded, pushing the glass into his hand. "I have more important things to do."

Damon caught Elijah's slight eye roll but she didn't comment, sitting on the couch next to Ric and resting a hand on his shoulder reassuringly. Kaia noticed the slight flare of jealousy in the Original's eyes but didn't want to make her friend any angrier so just waited until the man had drunk the potion before starting to chant.

* * *

It hurt. It fucking hurt, Christ, was it meant to hurt? This couldn't be right, this couldn't be what she meant to do. Unless she was really trying to hurt him, not heal him, this had to be a mistake. It was like fire burning in his brain, worse than anything he felt before and he'd died before!

Something was wrapped around him, cool strips of something strong holding him still tightly. It almost hurt but it didn't really. What hurt was the fire burning in his brain, ripping him apart from the inside and it wasn't stopping. Why wouldn't it stop? It had to stop.

Someone was calling his name as something was forced down his throat, something that just made the burning worse. He wanted to scream but he couldn't make a sound, struggling helplessly against whatever was holding him down. He didn't care what he had to do, as long as it stopped. He'd die again if he had to, as long as it made it stop.

The pain was hottest in his head and he thrashed harder as it increased, wanting it to just go away. He couldn't take it, it was too much. This was meant to fix him, not do this, that's what they'd said when they came in. Elijah and that strange woman had said it was going to fix what that ring had done to him, make him himself again and stop the murderer.

As quickly as it had come the fire vanished, leaving him shaking and gasping for air he desperately needed. Ric forced his eyes open, trying to clear the haze from his mind, and met the cerulean blue of his only friend's. There was something in them that the hunter would have called worry if he didn't know the vampire better but it vanished quickly.

"Hey, it's all over," she reassured, cold bonds, arms he realised, pulling away. "Witchy here forgot to warn you about the side effects."

The 'witchy' in question shot the vampire a dark glare, putting the grimoire back in her bag, followed by the bags of herbs. Elijah was still standing in the same spot he had been before this whole thing started, before he'd drunk that disgusting potion. The much younger and much more annoying vampire next to him helped him sit up, managing to make helping him seem patronizing with that little smirk of hers. The woman stood, closing her bag before turning and starting to leave.

"Thank you," Ric managed to choke out, voice raspy and hoarse. "Thank you for saving me."

The woman stopped for a second before murmuring something and walking out, the Original following her silently. Damon watched him go, trying to ignore the fact it hurt a bit, before looking back over at Ric and forcing a grin.

"Now, I think it's time we go to the Grill."

* * *

**A/N: **I have no idea what happened to this chapter. I added the first bit about Kaia because I needed the reveal and then Kol popped up and suddenly people were getting bitten and Ric was getting cured. I had originally planned on dragging out the research a bit more but somehow our favourite history teacher got fixed a bit earlier.

Review? They make me make more sense

~Klefan-Lover


	19. Broken Promises and Peace Treaties

**A/N: **I refuse to let Ric die. HE WILL LIVE AND THAT'S THAT. Right, sorry about that. Anyway, no evil psycho vampire Ric. I decided that I am totally diverging from the plot line and Damon and Elijah will stop Esther from ruining the Original family.

Also, Klaus and Stefan will get along eventually. This is now a Klefan and Delijah story. Wasn't planned but there you go. Also, who would like male Damon and who would like female? I would like to know who prefers what, out of curiosity.

* * *

"What is it Kol?" Elijah asked tiredly, looking up from the half-finished painting and meeting his brother's eyes.

The younger shrugged lightly, leaning against the wall as he started, "Well, I heard something I thought would interest you brother. I might know who did the little spell on the Salvatore."

Brown eyes snapped up, surprised and curious, before darkening as the elder retaliated, "How would you know Kol? You weren't exactly paying attention to anything but convincing her to sleep with you."

"Kaia thought she was helping but I can tell this was a bad idea," Kol muttered, feigning anxiousness. Even with his clear bluff the simple mention of Kaia's name confused Elijah enough that he didn't pick up on it. "She was so convinced the spell was a good idea, I just wish I had been here earlier to warn her."

"Brother, what are you implying?" Elijah asked lowly, trying to ignore what he already knew. She wouldn't do this, she wouldn't.

The younger sighed, walking to his brother and resting a hand on his shoulder in a mockery of caring as he explained, "She did the spell that turned Damon into a girl. She told me she thought you were interested in him but because of his gender he rebuffed you, in spite of shared feelings. She was so convinced turning him into a girl would fix the problem."

The older was frozen for a second before his overwhelming trust in Kaia, one of the only things that kept him sane, resurfaced and he warned, "I will not tolerate these stories. If this is true bring me proof. Otherwise, desist in speaking like this."

The younger scowled before leaving the room, making sure he slammed the door on the way out before stalking to the bedroom he had claimed as his. Nothing went right when his family was concerned, not even something as simple as telling his brother the truth. He had made a deal with the little witch not to tell anyone but if it got Elijah back to Mystic Falls faster he didn't really care if he had to bash her brain out of that pretty little skull with his bare hands.

The Original nodded to himself as he settled that before an intense pain erupted in his skull and he collapsed to his knees. The last thing he saw before he blacked out was Kaia standing over him, her tiny frame suddenly disgustingly fear-inducing.

"You shouldn't break deals."

* * *

"Why did you listen to Damon?" Elena chided, passing Ric the bottle of aspirin. Damon chuckled, ignoring the dark glare from the extremely hung-over history teacher.

The man downed two tablets before explaining, "At the time it seemed like a good idea. I should have known better."

The three of them were in the small kitchen in the apartment, the vampire fiddling with the coffee maker as Elena tried to take care of the very sickly teacher. The Grill had been a nice change for the newly-healed man but after a while he and Damon had admittedly drunk far too much.

"On the bright side, you can go back to work now," Elena tried to smile, eyes unsure.

As she dumped a mug of coffee in front of Ric Damon pointed out, "I think we should wait a day or so first. What if Elijah's little witch messed up? No one's perfect and for all we know it was just a temporary cure to mess with us."

The venom dripping off the word 'witch' was clear to everyone in the room but no one dared comment on it, not even Elena. None of them wanted to think about why Damon had been so unbelievably bitchy every single time someone had brought up the witch, even if Ric knew why. He wasn't about to judge his friend for it but it was still unsettling. The other vampire had always ranted about how she hated Elijah and his stupid hair and ridiculous accent and it was just hard to reconcile that memory with the fact he knew they were interested in each other. It was even harder with a headache the approximate size of California.

"Why do you think she did it?" he asked after a few minutes, sipping at the coffee despite the burn on his sore throat. Morning coffee was part of a system.

They were all silent for a minute before Elena reluctantly and slightly bitterly ventured, "Maybe Elijah asked her to do it. Maybe they did it for Damon."

The vampire in question scoffed bitterly, pointing out, "Like hell. He snapped my neck when he found out about the spell, didn't Stefan tell you?"

The doppelgänger flinched but nodded slowly, watching the annoyed vampire clap Ric on the shoulder a little more harshly than necessary before walking to the door, muttering a vague explanation about having places to go. The door slammed behind her and the two humans exchanged glances before Elena continued to take care of her almost-uncle, fussing more than she had been earlier.

* * *

Why did everything come back to that fucking Original family? Damon had headed straight to her house to be greeted by her shame-faced brother who smelt like he'd just gotten laid and was wearing on of Klaus' shirts. On a normal day, when things were the way there were meant to be, the older Salvatore would have laughed and shaken her head before mocking him playfully and taking to moody glare.

Of course, nothing was normal any more. For one thing, it would've been Elena that Stefan reeked of, not the hybrid. For another, Damon would be burning with jealousy. Now that her preferences were different she could think back and realised part of the interest in Elena, most of it really, was in hope that she would be enough like Katherine to fill the whole. The rest was pissing off her brother.

She felt guilty for using the doppelgänger but shoved it down stubbornly, reminding herself there were more important problems as she clapped Stefan on the shoulder in greeting and headed to her sitting room. The smell of her brother weakened as she entered the room and a sigh of relief escaped her lips. At least they'd had the decency to keep out of here.

As she started to sit on the couch she realised the scent of the hybrid was surrounding that one spot and a snarl almost escaped her lips before she saw what was sitting on the low table. Her favourite book, a glass of bourbon and the bottle. A note rested on top of the book, the writing familiar enough that she picked it up, reading quickly.

**You probably hate me, and I can live with that, let me assure you, but I doubt Stefan could. Consider this a peace offering and yes, this is the only one you'll get. If you tell anyone about this I will rip your heart out, Elijah be damned. I'm sure you understand. Enjoy the bourbon,**

**Klaus.**

**P.S. Stefan mentioned you liked that book when I was looking through the bookshelves earlier. I won't tell a soul, everyone has a secret. And, after all, we're practically family now.**

Damon almost laughed at the bizarre note, settling for a small smirk as she got comfortable, taking both glass and book. Maybe the hybrid hanging about wouldn't be all bad and she knew Stefan would want her to play nice with the wolf. After all, they were practically family.

* * *

The painting was tormenting him. It had been something simple, something easy, just to pass the time while Elijah had been trying to work through everything. It was a sharp memory of the time she had convinced him to come back to town, just for the day. He shouldn't have agreed and he'd known it the second he said he'd be there but he came into Mystic Falls anyway. She'd taken him back to the Salvatore house and just convinced him to sit outside and enjoy the sun, like they were human or something. They'd been happy for a few minutes anyway. Then she told him the truth and everything came crashing down.

It had all been a lie. Every word, every kiss, everything was just a lie so Damon could get into the trusted circle and kill Niklaus or something equally impossible. The vampire had never cared about him and that hurt Elijah more than he cared to admit. First it had been Tatia, playing himself and Niklaus against each other, and then Katerina had appeared blind to his affection. She had chosen his brother while leading him on, whether accidentally or on purpose. Even Rose-Marie had managed to hurt him with her betrayal even though he hadn't loved her. They had all wormed their way into his heart in some form or another, only to hurt him.

Over a thousand years he had tried to block out his emotions as he watched his family fall to pieces and watch so many people get hurt because of him or his siblings. Elijah hated it and hated himself for siding with Niklaus. Finn had been daggered because he didn't want this life. Katherine had been hunted for wanting to live. Kol was daggered for enjoying what they were. Rebekah was daggered for falling for someone and in the end Elijah had been daggered too. Everyone he cared about hurt him or was killed. So he had tried to shove all emotions back, keep them under lock and key.

The painting was still staring at him from the easel he had borrowed from his brother, the girl's pale blue eyes watching him. A low growl escaped the Original as he remembered that morning in perfect clarity for the seventh time this hour. Damon had just been using the spell to his advantage, playing the older vampire, and Elijah had fallen right into the trap without a second thought. He knew what the Salvatore was like and he knew that she had been lying when she had answered the questions that day at the Grill. And he had trusted the black-haired girl with the mischievous smile anyway.

In the blink of an eye Elijah was across the room, throwing the easel into the opposite wall as something inside him snapped. Tatia. Katherine. Damon. All of them were so different but so similar. All of them had played him for a fool. Tatia was dead. Katherine was God-knows-where and he didn't have the patience to track her down. That made the eldest Salvatore the obvious choice.

In seconds he was racing through the woods, emotions he had struggled to hide for centuries racing through his mind. He was tired of getting hurt and tired of just letting people get away with it. Revenge had sustained him for a long time. Maybe there was still honour in revenge.

Damon was lounging on the couch, a book in her lap and a glass of bourbon in her hand as she read with the tiniest smile. It had been far too long since he had seen her and the tiniest ache made its presence known in his chest. Elijah had missed seeing her smile, laugh, seeing her end of story. He squashed that down determinedly, stalking over to the couch and wrapping his strong hand around the girl's pale throat before she even realised something was wrong.

"Elijah," Damon gasped, reaching up to grip the Original's wrist as her windpipe was slowly crushed and brown eyes watched her angrily.

He didn't loosen his grip, lifting Damon easily and hissing, "You shouldn't have played with me Salvatore. Don't you remember that day at the Lockwood mansion? All I asked for was a little respect and I couldn't even get that."

With the tiniest movement she was sent flying across the room, hitting the wall so hard it buckled slightly. Before she could get up Elijah was on top of her, pinning her down as he felt his fangs drop and the capillaries beneath his eyes engorge. Damon's sad blue eyes looked up at him, not even trying to fight him.

"I should just kill you," he snarled, heart aching even more as he looked down at the woman that had wormed her way past all his defences. The anger was fading so quickly as he looked down at Damon, remembering how much he cared about her. "I should rip your heart out," he muttered, resolve weaker than Elijah liked.

Her voice was quiet, guilt-filled and broken, as she asked, "Why don't you? Trust me, no one would miss me."

Before he could stop himself his lips were crashing down on Damon's, covering her mouth in a rough kiss, fangs retracting as he felt her kiss back. It was passionate and almost-violent and for the first time since Elijah had discovered the truth he felt okay again. He'd missed her, far too much, and he'd been aching to touch her, to kiss her, for what felt like years.

Elijah broke away first, looking down at the panting vampire, and whispered, "I can't kill you. I can't because I love you."

He stood without another word, walking to the door as he dusted his suit off. He didn't want to think about what this meant for his messed-up relationship with his family or Damon. Elijah made it to the front door before Damon caught up with him, hesitantly resting a pale hand with the chunky ring on his arm.

"You shouldn't love me," she whispered when he stopped, voice strained. "And we both know if it comes down to it, you'll choose your brother."

A soft kiss was pressed on his cheek before he could argue and Damon walked upstairs, feet barely making any noise. Elijah walked out into the cool night, taking a deep breath and trying to force his emotions down again. It would never work between them and he knew it. His family came first, always and forever.

Why did that sound so hollow suddenly?

* * *

Kol has some issues, huh? And Klaus playing nice? What is wrong with me?

~Klefan-Lover


	20. Domestic Disgust and Mind Walks

**A/N: **Thank you everyone who has stuck with me this far. I love you all, your amazing reviewers and readers. Thank you so much. Also, full author's note at the end this time, can't give anything away.

Disclaimer: If I owned TVD, Elena would probably have been killed off by now, just saying.

* * *

"You didn't have anything to do with the spell on Damon?" Stefan asked hesitantly, looking at his hybrid lover nervously. The tiniest things could set him off, even when he was in a good mood.

Klaus looked up, the end of a pencil in his mouth as he paused in sketching before murmuring, "No Stefan. Why would I do that? In case you haven't noticed I've been trying to win you over since we ran into each other, once I broke the curse. And I did that for you."

The vampire shook his head, amused, before pointing out, "You did it for yourself Nik. We both know that, don't deny it. I just made a comment ninety years ago that convinced you."

The hybrid shrugged, looking back down at the page as he commanded, "Stay still love. Just talk, no moving."

Stefan sighed but didn't argue, letting his bossy sort-of boyfriend sketch away, before suggesting, "Well maybe you did it for Elijah. You can lie to me all you want but I know you love him. He's your brother."

Klaus hesitated for a second before sighing, putting down his sketchpad as he conceded, "Yes, I do love him but I wouldn't mess with Damon. To be honest, I never considered them to be friends, let alone possibly interested in each other."

"Damon was in love with Elijah the second he saw him," he scoffed, rolling his forest green eyes. "It was the whole 'badass' thing apparently. Damon always had a thing for people that are no good for him."

"Are you implying my brother isn't good enough?" the hybrid frowned, eyes darkening.

Stefan sat up properly, ignoring the hybrid's sulky frown, as he retaliated, "No, I'm implying that Damon doesn't think, he just does. He's impulsive and never thinks before he acts."

"The crazy impulsive vampire," Klaus murmured, remembering the conversation he'd once had with Damon about the very same fact they were now talking about. "You're worried he'll do something and then regret it."

The vampire nodded with a sigh, rubbing his forehead tiredly. Damon didn't realise how much the spell was affecting everyone else. It wasn't just her hurting. It was him, it was Ric, it was even Jeremy and he didn't really like the vampire. The spell had changed her but that change was affecting more than she realised.

"Kaia is looking into finding a reversal spell, yes? That's what Damon said?" Klaus asked, starting to put his sketch materials away in defeat. "She has never failed my brother. If she had, she'd be dead Stefan. She'll find it."

The vampire nodded, hoping the hybrid was right. If he wasn't, he really didn't want to think about what Damon would do. She was unstable at the best of times. After a few minutes of silence Klaus stood from the desk chair, walking to the bed and holding out a hand to the sitting vampire.

"Come on love, let's get you some breakfast," he insisted, gently pulling his lover up and tugging him to the door. "Cooking always takes your mind off things."

Stefan chuckled, shaking his head as he followed the hybrid, pointing out, "Sometimes you know so much about me it's kind of scary."

"Pet?"

"Yes Nik?"

"Shut up."

* * *

She could smell food. It was a bit distant but she could smell it and even half-asleep Damon knew that meant Stefan was cooking. For all his faults her brother was a damn good cook and the vampire pulled herself out of bed, lacking the usual reluctance. Stefan didn't cook much at home anymore, she knew she needed to take advantage of it.

The tired woman got dressed before heading downstairs, keen senses picking up coffee and the distinctive scent of a hybrid. For a second she deliberated with going to visit Ric and stealing his food but relented, slipping into the kitchen silently. The scene was so domestic she felt a little ill and definitely reconsidered going to Ric's.

Klaus was sitting at the bench, drinking a cup of coffee as he watched Stefan cook with a fond loving smile. It felt so intimate, just that smile, that she couldn't help but feel like she was intruding. The simple fact that she felt like she was intruding in her own house immediately made the vampire decide this spell had really messed with her head and that was just that.

"Stefan, you better have made enough for three," Damon warned playfully as she sat at the other counter seat, propping her chin on her palm with a smirk.

She could almost hear him roll his eyes, as impossible as that was, before Klaus teased, "Don't worry little sister, I reminded him to make some for you."

The hybrid didn't miss the subtle tightening of muscles as the spelled woman reacted to that comment but made no attempt to take it back, glancing over at Stefan to check he wasn't about to tell him off or something. When he saw that the younger was clearly ignoring the remark he turned back to Damon, trying to figure out if he was capable of holding a conversation with his brother's sort of girlfriend. His first thought was a definite no.

"Have you found a reversal spell?" he ventured after a minute, trying to break the annoying silence in the room.

Damon shook her head, irritably brushing her hair from her face as she took the mug of coffee Stefan offered her before muttering, "No. I gave up a few days ago. It's up to Elijah's friend now."

"Kaia's clever and determined," Klaus reassured, wondering why he was bothering. "She's loyal too and if Elijah asks her to do something she'll do it."

He was distracted by the bitter mutter from the younger vampire when Stefan nudged him gently, putting some food in front of him. He couldn't help the tiny smile that flitted across his lips and pressed a light kiss on his boyfriend's lips, forgetting about Damon for a minute.

"I'm not really hungry," caught his ears, and he turned slightly, watching as the other Salvatore stood abruptly, looking at them with something in her eyes. It looked almost like jealousy and Klaus understood. She wasn't jealous because Stefan had him in particular. She was jealous because she wanted what they had, no matter how imperfect it was.

Stefan looked guilty, asking, "Where are you going?"

"Got to see a witch about a spell," Damon mumbled, leaving the room quickly.

* * *

Kol was genuinely amazed by Elijah's pet witch. He couldn't get out of his room. Everything was silent outside, dead silent, and he couldn't get out. The door wouldn't open, the window wouldn't, and every time he tried to get through the walls they repaired themselves as he watched. Elijah couldn't hear him and he was so hungry. He'd always had a bigger appetite than his siblings and he was already hungry.

He could hear her thoughts if he tried hard enough. It was as if she linked them together with a spell or something ridiculous like that. The more he thought about it he came to the conclusion it was a spell to keep an eye on him and it had messed up so now he could see into her mind. He was quite content with that explanation. He was bored and that was his only entertainment so he focused on her mind, listening to her conversation through her ears.

"Have you found anything?" Elijah asked, voice tired as he looked at her.

Kol could feel the witch shake her head as her voice replied, "I think I have. Are you sure about this Elijah? It could go wrong."

His brother's eyes were dark as he announced, "I'm sure. I want you to put Damon back to the right body, this never should have happened in the first place."

"I think you need someone," she mumbled and Kol could feel her nervousness at bringing this up when his brother was moody. "Maybe someone did it to help you."

Elijah's eyes narrowed and the witch and Original in her mind could see something in his mind spark as he put the pieces together, pieces he didn't want to put together. Kol knew how his brother got when he was betrayed and a swell of panic burst in his chest, irrational embarrassing fear. What would happen to him if the witch died when he was in her mind, when they were linked? Would it kill him too? The younger Original tried desperately to pull out of her mind but it was different than the other times. He'd been in there too long and too deep, he couldn't just vanish like last time.

"Kol told me that you had done the spell Kaia," Elijah started, eyes pained and sad. "Was he right? Did you do this?"

Kol could feel everything she felt, the fear, the determination as a sigh fell from her lips and the meddlesome little witch replied, "I thought having him would make you happy. I thought it was the only way to make it better."

He was expecting his brother to knock the woman's head off but he just sighed darkly, warning, "Never do anything like this again. If I need your help, I ask, that's the system. I'll talk to Damon about this spell and if she wants it reversed. Make sure the spell is the right one."

Kol and Kaia watched as he left, both as surprised as the other. The younger Mikaelson wasn't the only one who knew of Elijah's temper.

* * *

Sorry about the Klefan in the beginning of the chapter. I know this is a Delijah story and it still will be, the Klefan was a bit of a filler so I could work on building up tension really. Anyway, Elijah and Damon conversation in the next chapter. I think for a little while at least Damon will stay a girl so yeah. I might change that later on but for now, girl!Damon for a while longer. Thanks for reading and don't forget to review loves. Reviews make Damon and Elijah co-operate, they really do.

~Klefan-Lover


	21. Meetings and Blood

**A/N: **Hi, you're awesome, yes you. That's about it. Also, I'm still not happy with the Delijah scene but hopefully it's okay with you. I keep rewriting it and it keeps ending up the same. Also, extra (if short) chapter update cause you guys are epic.

Disclaimer: If I owned TVD, Elijah and Kol NEVER would have left and Klaus and Stefan would be canon. That proves I don't.

* * *

Kaia had lied to him and Elijah wasn't sure how to react to that. It didn't take long for him to decide that he wasn't going to think about it, not now. He could deal with that later. For now he'd just talk to Damon, see what she wanted to do. It was her choice about the spell.

He had a feeling that she would want the spell to get reversed so she would be herself again. Elijah could see that the Salvatore didn't enjoy the spell and nothing he could do would change that. They weren't exactly getting along well, despite his admission, his stupid reckless admission.

It didn't take much to organise for a meeting between them. They chose the same clearing where they met and planned to take the daggers out of his captive siblings. It was nice there, secluded and normally empty and it hadn't taken too much to convince the vampire to meet him there. Just mentioning that there was a chance for the spell to be reversed got her to agree in seconds.

By the time Elijah got there Damon was waiting, dressed simply in dark clothes like this was completely normal, like nothing was wrong. Even in the dark heeled boots she was still so much shorter than him and it made him chuckle quietly as he crossed to her, hands in his pockets. Damon was so petite like this, he kind of liked it.

"Elijah," she greeted, less terse then she had been in the history teacher's apartment.

He inclined his head, murmuring, "Kaia believes she has found the reversal spell for your predicament. Do you want to change back?"

"Yes," she answered immediately, stepping closer to him. "I don't want to be like this."

He couldn't ignore the slight pang her words caused. It wouldn't work between them in any case, the others were probably already planning on killing Klaus for sleeping with Stefan or vice versa. If he wanted Damon to stay safe they couldn't be together and he knew it. Elijah also knew that theory was mostly bull, just another reason not to get attached. Damon never seemed like a one-person vampire.

"Elijah, don't make me say please," the younger vampire snarled with a glower, folding her arms in annoyance. "What do you want in return?"

He wanted to deny he wanted anything in return but stopped himself, thinking for a second before asking, "Was this all a trick or did you actually care? I want the truth this time."

"Is that all you want?" she asked, voice bitter. "We both know it doesn't matter because you would never risk it. You're all about control and I'm, well, not. So even since it wasn't a trick it doesn't matter."

Out of all the words in that sentence the only ones that really caught Elijah's attention were 'wasn't a trick' and in a second he had had pulled her closer, burying his face in her hair. She hadn't been lying to him. She'd done it, all of it, because she felt something for him.

"Maybe, for once in my life, I won't be well-controlled," he offered quietly, looking into the cerulean blue eyes that should have been such a give-away as to who it really was. "I can't promise this will end well. Kol and Rebekah won't be pleased with this turn of events but perhaps Kaia would be willing to each them a lesson."

"You rely way too much on that damn witch," Damon muttered into his shoulder, long hair falling in her face messily. "I mean, really, 'Kaia can do this', and 'Kaia can do that'."

The Original chuckled, rubbing her back as he ascertained, "Your jealous Damon. Kaia is just a friend, she could never be more. Besides, I think Kol has an interest in her. That should end well."

He heard the younger vampire scoff before she pointed out, "A witch and a vampire will end worse than a human and a vampire. It'd be like a betrayal against nature for the witch, wouldn't it? The only thing I can think that would be worse would be a vampire and a hunter, or Slayer if they exist."

"And yet you continue to spend time with Mr Saltzman," Elijah retaliated before thinking for a minute. "From what I've been able to discern the Slayer is just a myth, something to keep fledgling vampires in line."

"Now you're being jealous," she sighed, shaking her head. "Ric is just a friend, Elijah. He's not really my type, never was."

Elijah rolled his eyes at her words even though deep down he was jealous. Damon spent far too much time around the history teacher for his liking but that didn't meant he was going to admit he was actually jealous. For now he would just content himself with getting some time alone with the vampire, without his family or hers intervening. Dealing with the hunter could come later.

* * *

_'Get out of my head Kol,'_ the witch's voice hissed, anger boiling in her veins. Kol only wished he could get out of her head. It had been at least an hour since Elijah had left to talk to his little vampire lover and he was still stuck in Kaia's mind. He was really starting to hate it.

_'I can hear you, bloodsucker,' _she snapped and it was different this time. It interrupted his thoughts, bouncing around inside his skull, like her voice was in his head.

After a second hesitation he asked,_ 'Will you put this back to normal? I would like to get something to eat at some point.'_ Kol tried to hide the fact he wouldn't mind her being his first meal.

The silence was different but not entirely unwelcomed change until her irritating voice broke his thoughts again, asking lowly, _'Will you ruin what Elijah might have with Damon if I let you out?'_

The Original snarled in his mind and the witch was able to translate his anger into a no. Everything went silent again, reinforced by an annoying static, before he could feel the barrier around his room dropping. He blurred out of the room, feeling the hunger burning in his throat, and attacked the first warm body he encountered.

Her blood was hot and delicious and he drank deeply, not worried about stopping or slowing. He couldn't feel anything from the witch anymore so he didn't care if she died. She shouldn't mess with vampires and not expect consequences. He was hungry and she was delicious. If Elijah got home before he finished with her he'd deal with that then.

* * *

Jealous Elijah. That I did like. Also, don't get pissed at me for the Kol scene, that bastard does what he wants, not what I want

~Klefan-Lover


	22. Happiness and Death

**A/N: **Had this written up for a week, made ya wait, doncha love me?

QT05, I left a reply for your reviews at the end of this chapter

Disclaimer: If I owned TVD, Elijah and Kol NEVER would have left and Klaus and Stefan would be canon. That proves I don't.

* * *

"Don't you have to check on Kaia?" she asked, tilting her head up to look at the vampire.

Elijah shrugged, rubbing her stomach lightly as he looked down at her. He'd actually suggested sitting out in that clearing, leaning against a tree, which had surprised Damon a bit. He was always so proper and neat and was considering sitting on the grassy and dirty ground. She hadn't complained though, knowing it was better than going back to her house with him and leading him right into Klaus' hands.

"She can take care of herself, she always does," he answered, pressing a kiss on her cheek. "What about you? Don't you have to go to Stefan?"

"He has your brother looking over him," she shrugged, running thin fingers over his hands. "I stormed out this morning when Klaus and Stefan were being all domestic. He won't want to see me for a little while."

Elijah chuckled, vibrations travelling into her back from his chest, before he asked, "Then would you like somewhere else to go tonight?"

"Are you asking me on a date or trying to get into my pants?" Damon asked shrewdly, smirking slightly.

The Original gave her a look, replying, "Maybe I'm just offering you a little time away from my rather extravagant brother doting on yours."

"I'd call him eccentric," she argued playfully. "Insane, murderous, psychotic maybe but extravagant seems a little too nice."

Elijah chuckled, gently pushing Damon up and standing after her. The younger vampire rolled her eyes as he picked up his suit jacket, slipping it on over the creased shirt. It made Damon want to grin, that for once he didn't look perfectly neat and composed, but she kept a straight face as he offered her a hand.

"We're going to hold hands and skip through the flowers?" she teased, yelping in surprise as she was suddenly scooped up and cradled to his chest.

"Well, I was going to let you run to my house but if you're going to be so snippy," he chuckled, suddenly blurring off. "You might want to learn to control that mouth of yours."

* * *

The house Elijah carried her to was nice, if a little plain, but the younger vampire didn't voice her thoughts. After being carried there like a damsel in distress she was a little moody and she could see clearly that he knew it and had done it on purpose.

"I preferred you better when you were annoying and stuck-up," she griped as he put her down with a little grin. "I can walk, you do know that?"

The Original chuckled, heading to the door. Everything seemed fine, good even, until they got a bit closer to the house and the scent of blood assaulted them. Elijah was inside in seconds, leaving Damon with no choice but to follow him. Even if she didn't like the woman that much the scene still hit the younger a vampire a bit harder than she wanted it to.

Kaia was lying unconscious on the floor, neck savagely bitten into and her heart had almost stopped. Damon had never seen Elijah freeze before and darted past him, biting into her wrist and jamming it into the witch's mouth. She wasn't really sure she could swallow even if she was conscious but tried anyway. Jealousy aside, witchy seemed like she might be an okay person and from the looks of things Elijah didn't have anyone else.

It wasn't healing her quick enough. There was too much damage and Damon knew it, internally blaming Ric and Elena for this irritating hero streak. This was meant to be Stefan's job for crying out loud. He had the hero haircut and everything. Even as her mind ran through these useless thoughts the vampire was trying to remember the trick someone had shown him to get someone to swallow reflexively. After another second she remembered and bit into her wrist again, pouring enough blood that witchy's mouth was full before trying to get her to swallow.

"Elijah, there's too much damage," she admitted, looking up at his pained expression. "If we don't turn her she'll die, even with my blood."

"She's a witch, if she gets turned she'll lose her connection with nature," he protested hollowly, eyes tortured. "I promised I'd never turn her."

In a split-second decision Damon snapped Kaia's neck as gently as she could before explaining lowly, "I didn't."

* * *

"Ric, is Damon with you?" the worried vampire asked, pacing around his room as he listened for the shower stopping. Klaus had insisted not to worry about Damon but he couldn't help it. "She left this morning and hasn't come home yet."

The history teacher sighed audibly before admitting, "She called earlier but I told her I was busy grading essays and wasn't exactly in the mood to get smashed again. She hung up and I haven't heard from her since."

"She's still not home and I'm worried," he mumbled, still pacing. "She was going to look for a witch to reverse the spell and she's still out."

"Maybe she went to see Elijah and his witch, she's quite good," Ric suggested, hiding the worry easily. Damon was more likely to kill Kaia then to ask her for help, he had noticed the jealous look. He would have had to be blind not to. He also would have had to be blind to notice the protective look on Elijah's face.

The vampire could hear the shower stopping and hung up without saying goodbye to the confused teacher, tucking his phone away hurriedly. He could hear his lover getting dressed and quickly sat at his desk, opening his journal and starting to write.

"Stefan, don't start, I know you were on the phone," he heard Klaus chide. "I know you're worried about Damon but you need to give her space. This can't be easy for her."

"No one knows where she is Nik," he protested, scared of losing his brother after they were almost getting along. It had been too long since they were close to being family again. "I can't just sit here and wait for her. What if she's hurt, what if…"

He couldn't finish his question, unsurprised when warm arms wrapped around him and held him tightly. Stefan leant into the touch, needing the comfort desperately as his mind went through everything that could have happened despite how hard he tried not to think like that. When a pained sob escaped his lips the arms tightened and he closed his eyes, letting the tears fall. Damon being dead was one thing, something he didn't think he could handle fully but that wasn't the worst option. What if she had just left him again?

* * *

Kaia still wasn't awake and Elijah still wasn't talking to her. The burning jealousy was gone, replaced by sadness. The Original had been running from his father for a thousand years, Klaus for at least five hundred from what she could figure out. He didn't really have anyone he could trust besides this witch.

"Why did you turn her?" he asked, voice pained and low.

With a sigh Damon admitted, "I know she means a lot to you. I didn't want you to lose someone you trusted, someone you cared for."

That made the Original look up from his vigil next to the witch, meeting the sad blue eyes with his tortured brown. In seconds Damon was by his side, wrapping her arms around Elijah as something in the normally composed older vampire broke. He had lost too much. He couldn't lose Kaia too, not now. Hendrick was dead, Finn and Mother were dead, Katherine had turned around and hurt him, Rose-Marie had died saving the very vampire holding him and he couldn't bear the thought of losing the one person that had only tried to help.

"I'll stay with you until she wakes up," he heard her promise as he wrapped his arms around her, too tired to hide this vulnerability. He needed to trust her right now. "I'll call Stefan, say I won't be home, and then I'll wait here with you."

Elijah buried his face in her slim shoulder, not able to bring himself to respond. All he could do was wait and hope that Kaia woke up. He had Damon now but he needed his witch. She was the only friend he had.

* * *

Kol hadn't meant to kill her. He loved killing people and that would never change, but he hadn't meant to take so much. He had planned to heal her up once he'd taken a bit and head back to Mystic Falls to check on Rebekah. Elijah clearly wasn't going to help so he decided to take matters into his own hands but then he'd taken too much.

He hadn't expected this look in his brother's eyes, like he had just lost one of the most important things in his life. He couldn't lie and say that didn't hurt, seeing the same sort of expression he'd had when Hendrick died but he understood. Everyone did something. He killed people. Nik drew and killed people. Elijah got attached to people and then got hurt. His was definitely the most self-destructive coping mechanism Kol had ever heard of.

He shouldn't have killed her and he knew it but he couldn't fix any of this. The youngest surviving Mikaelson waited until he was sure Damon wasn't going to leave Elijah before running off, heading back to Mystic falls. He had nowhere else to go.

* * *

Kol, look what you did now and Stefan, stop being insecure! *sighs* Review and don't yell at me?

QT05, thank you for all the reviews. Yes, they did make up too fast but there was reasoning behind it, sort of a 'I'm not sure I can trust you but I really fucking want to,' thing, but there will be a little more strife and relationship building before they solidify completely as a couple. I would reply to you in PM but unfortunately they were guest reviews. I did get all of them and the detailed and well-written reviews made me smile. Also, the story quality may be degrading slightly of late, I've been rushing to get ready for college

~Klefan-Lover


	23. Loss and Trust

**A/N: **For a while I thought about combining this chapter and the next but sorry, you're stuck with a little less. I might not have time to write next week (college, blah) so I need a back up. Anyway, I have the next two chapters written (mostly) so here's a bonus. Don't kill me?

Disclaimer: If I owned TVD, Elijah and Kol NEVER would have left and Klaus and Stefan would be canon. That proves I don't.

* * *

"Stefan, slow down," Damon chided, watching Elijah worriedly as she leant on the wall. The Original had finally calmed enough that she could let him go and call Stefan but he looked like he might lose the little composure he'd regained in seconds. "Something's happened, I can't come home tonight. On the bright side, you and Klaus can have a sleepover now."

The normally strong sarcasm that would accompany that kind of comment was weak and pale and her younger brother picked up on it, asking fearfully, "Damon, what happened? Please, tell me, why can't you come home?"

Before the older Salvatore she heard a scuffle, Stefan protesting as a far-too familiar accented voice murmured reassurances before Klaus asked into the phone, "Is Elijah alright? Don't lie to me."

"Kaia's in transition," she answered softly, careful to avoid the word dead. "He really cares about her Klaus, so do you think he's alright?"

"Shit," the hybrid hissed, and the vampire could hear his footsteps on the stairs. "Tell him I'm coming, whether he likes it or not."

"He doesn't need his brother right now," Damon sighed, rubbing her forehead. When she had lost Rose, which admittedly had been slightly different, the last thing he'd wanted was Stefan around. "I'll take care of both of them and call you later with an update. Just stay with Stefan. You know how he gets."

After a few moments of silence Klaus hung up, his reluctant agreement coming in the form of not arguing further. The second the hybrid was gone Damon tucked the phone into her pocket, returning to Elijah and sitting next to him. The Original was silent, only reacting to her approach by taking her hand, eyes glued on Kaia's face desperately. If she didn't wake up, Damon didn't want to know what would happen to him.

* * *

"I have to go to him," Klaus protested, looking at Stefan with regret all over his face. He couldn't stop worrying now, reluctant to let anyone see but too panicked to hide it. "He's known her for so long, he saved her when she was only nine Stefan. They're had twenty years together. She loves him like a brother and now she's in transition. I don't know if he can deal with this."

Stefan watched sadly as the hybrid paced, knowing all too well what his lover was going through. He'd been going through the same thing all day, all week even, and he knew that quoting his advice back at him wouldn't do anything but piss Klaus off but at the same time he knew it was true.

"Nik, maybe Elijah needs space, like Damon did earlier," he offered quietly, reaching out to catch Klaus' arm. "He'll call you when he needs you."

When his hybrid looked at him with bright blue eyes, still as scared as before and in that instant everything clicked and Stefan snapped, "Don't you dare think like that Niklaus. You are his brother and no matter how mad he gets he loves you. I know from experience. You always need your brother."

"Always and forever," Nik muttered helplessly, rubbing his forehead.

* * *

Kaia woke with a shuddering gasp, hands scrabbling for her throat and the wound she expected to find there. Instead, there was smooth skin, only marred by what felt like dry blood. In seconds hands were covering hers gently, pulling them away from her neck and she looked up to see Elijah and Damon watching her with concern.

"Kol attacked me," she whimpered, feeling Elijah pull her close and a sense of peace wash over her. "I locked him in his room so he couldn't get in the way while you were making amends. Why can't I feel it Elijah? Why I can't I feel anything?"

Damon intervened when she saw the tears threatening to escape the Original's eyes, explaining quietly, "There was a lot of damage. I tried to use my blood to heal you but it didn't work. I know how much Elijah cares about you so I turned you."

"I can't feel it," she near-sobbed, eyes wide and scared. "Make it come back. I need to feel it. So hollow."

Elijah shot Damon a look, one that clearly said give me a minute alone, and the vampire reluctantly stood and walked outside. Leaving the Original alone with the scared transitioning human could end so badly but she couldn't argue when she's the one who took her humanity.

"I never wanted this," the former witch sobbed in the Original's chest, trying to understand why he let this happen. "You promised me."

In that instant part of him hated Damon as he muttered, "I told her not to. I couldn't think straight and then you were dead and she had tried to heal you. You were in transition and I didn't stop it."

Even when part of him, the part that loved Kaia like a sister or even a daughter hated Damon the rest of him couldn't tell the scared witch that she had snapped her neck. As he soothingly rubbed the woman's back he corrected his thought bitterly, reminding himself she was as damned as he was now, a vampire instead of a witch. An abomination instead of a servant of nature.

"I don't want to die," she whispered, looking up at him pleadingly. "I don't want to Lijah. Please don't let me."

"I'm so sorry Kaia," he choked out, struggling to repress his emotions. "You're already dead."

* * *

"She's awake," Damon informed Klaus tersely, trying desperately to block out the sobs from inside the house. She was trying not to get sucked into this drama any more than she already was, hating herself for turning the witch. "Elijah's with her but she's not coping well."

She could hear the scuffle as Stefan got the phone away from his boyfriend before explaining, "Bonnie said witches are connected to the earth but when they get turned they lose that connection and it makes them feel empty."

The older Salvatore was about to ask how Judgy knew that when she remembered turning her mother and bit her tongue. That was not the right question to ask if she wanted to avoid an aneurysm or twelve. Bonnie was extremely touchy these days.

"So I severed a connection she's lived with for years," she sighed, wishing she didn't feel guilty. She'd done it for the right reasons. "That would explain what's going on."

Another struggle over the phone ensued and Damon snorted, waiting until Klaus asked, "How is Elijah? Does he need anything?"

"A time machine," she sighed, shaking her head. "Kaia really isn't doing well Klaus, I don't know what to do. Most of the people I turned got along fine on their own."

She could hear Stefan mutter something but ignored it, glancing back at the house as the hybrid asked, "Has he asked for help?" There was hopefulness in his voice that Damon didn't want to squash but she knew she had to.

"No, he hasn't asked for anything except me leaving," she sighed. "If he needs you I'll call okay? Stop worrying."

Klaus scoffed before muttering, "I can't. He's my brother."

Damon understood that all too well, hanging up with a sigh before turning to find herself face to face with Elijah. His brown eyes were full of grief and pain and she thought she had it figured out. Kaia wasn't going to complete the transition.

"I can't trust you," he said after an uncomfortable second, normally smooth voice raspy. "I can't trust you, can I?"

"You're the one who snapped my neck, Elijah," she reminded, a flare of bitterness hitting her. She couldn't blame him, not really, but that didn't mean it wasn't annoying. "Maybe I should be saying the same about you."

Everything had seemed okay this morning when they were sitting in the field together, like nothing was wrong, but deep down Damon had known this was bound to happen. She had lied to him for days about who she was. He had snapped her neck in return.

"I knew you'd be okay," Elijah snarled, pulling her close by the arm and forcing her to look into his eyes. For a second there was only pain before something clicked. "I can't have you here Damon. You're causing too much trouble."

It took a second too long for the younger vampire to realise what he was going to do. If she had realised a little sooner she might have been able to do something, stop it somehow.

"You're going to go inside and get Kaia's grimoire from the table and then you're going to leave," the Original commanded, pupils dilating as he compelled her. "You won't come back here until I say you can, you won't remember how to get here. You will go home and give Niklaus your phone and then go to the Bennet witch. Go get this spell reversed." His strengthening voice broke at the last sentence but the compulsion didn't falter. "Go Damon."

She wanted to fight it but the Salvatore felt a haze descending on her mind, every protest drowned out by the compulsion. Go inside. Get the grimoire. Go home. Go inside. Get the grimoire. Go home. Every action was controlled by those thoughts as her body moved of its own accord, following the orders from the Original.

As Damon headed back through the trees she heard Elijah murmur something, something that should have made her smile, but everything came down to this compulsion. And he wondered why they had so many trust issues.

* * *

Please don't murder me for the compulsion. Grief makes you do crazy things, love makes you do the whacky, Elijah doing stupid shit is expectable and they do have some serious issues to work through, no matter how hard they try to deny it.

~Klefan-Lover


	24. Stubborn Hybrids and Judgy Witches

**A/N: **Here's the next chapter, all shiny and new and you still might wanna kill me at the end. Warning: Klaus is bound to be a little OOC in the next few chapters, just saying

Disclaimer: I wish. All I own is a demon kitty (Azazel) and the laptop

* * *

Damon found Stefan and Klaus in the library, the hybrid allowing her brother to cuddle into his side as the older read. Normally such a domestic moment would make her feel ill but this time, with tears still staining Stefan's cheeks, she felt a rush of relief. At least he had someone to look out for him when she was gone. She walked to them, setting the grimoire on the table as the compulsion urged her to pull out her phone and hold it out to the confused hybrid.

"Elijah said to give this to you," she explained, tossing it into his lap as she reached for the grimoire again. The compulsion was still burning inside her, telling her to go to Bonnie and get the spell reversed and Damon knew she wasn't strong enough to fight it.

Before she picked up the book someone was holding her face still and Klaus was far too close for comfort, studying her eyes intently before he realised. "My brother compelled you."

He leant back and Damon nodded, explaining bitterly, "He can't trust me. I had to come back here and forget how to get to him because I'm completely and totally untrustworthy."

She could see the look in Stefan's eyes, the look that screamed he was going to try to comfort her and grabbed the book off the table before stalking outside, leaving her brother and his boyfriend behind. Stefan wasn't going to be able to fix anything this time.

With a tired sigh Klaus got into Damon's received calls and scrolled down until he saw a number he didn't recognize. If Elijah wasn't going through so much he might be tempted to let Stefan yell at him for a few minutes. No matter how easily-irritated his older brother could be the hybrid knew that Stefan could make him feel guilty and when Elijah felt guilty he tended to either kill the object of his guilt or try and fix the problem. Klaus had a feeling that in this circumstances he'd be leaning towards fixing the problem but didn't risk it, waiting for his brother to answer. He had enough to deal with without a guilt trip.

* * *

"Niklaus, I understand you don't approve of me causing Stefan pain through Damon but that was not my intentions," Elijah sighed, thinking he had the terse tone in his brother's voice figured out.

"I think you'll find I'm more concerned about your girlfriend at the moment," the hybrid countered, voice low. "Admittedly, my main reason does stem back to Stefan but we have a truce of sorts. She's practically family now."

Uncharacteristically, the elder wanted to point out that family tended to get stabbed around him but settled for, "I need to enlist your help."

"You can't deal with Kaia being in transition and need someone else there to clean up what I suspect is Kol's mess," Klaus translated easily, and Elijah could hear him walking. "I'll make you a deal brother. It's been too long since you've been happy so try and make up with the Salvatore and I'll help."

The vampire struggled not to crush his phone but snapped, "Fine Niklaus. I'll speak to Damon after we help Kaia."

He quickly rattled off directions on how to reach his safe house, silently resigning himself to having to destroy it later. Before waiting to see if Klaus had gotten the directions he hung up, running a hand through his hair before reluctantly heading inside. His witch was waiting for him, curled up on the couch as she watched the doorway.

"What'd you do?" Kaia asked softly, twisting her hair into braids before pulling out with the same nervous energy she had before she snapped her neck. "I thought you were going to talk to her."

"We talked, she left," Elijah explained quickly, looking at her sadly. "I have forever to deal with Damon. You, I have less time with."

The witch looked down, fingers still moving as she repetitively created tiny little braids in her hair before pulling them out and the Original settled onto the armchair across from her, waiting for her to say something. Transitioning or not, her tells were the same as ever.

After a minute of silence and five more braids she ventured, "What would it be like, if I completed the transition?"

For a minute he was happy, happier than he thought he'd be able to be. He wasn't going to lose his only friend. Then he saw the resolve in her eyes and realised that she was going to do anything to help him, even if it killed her.

"Don't think I'm going to grab a blood bag yet," she warned. "I'm not doing this until I know for sure that you'll talk to her, really talk to her."

Elijah protested, "She killed you. She turned you into this."

"And she did it for you."

* * *

"Judgy, just do it!" Damon snarled, slamming a hand on the table. The longer she had thought about it the better this idea seemed, compulsion or not. Elijah had thrown the spell at her, it was time to use it and Bonnie was the only witch she knew.

She pushed the book away resolutely, snapping, "I told you when this first happened that I wouldn't reverse it. Someone did it for a reason Damon."

"Yeah, and the reason blew up in her fucking face and I had to turn her so I think you can turn me back now," she growled, shoving the book back towards her. "Trust me, witchy won't care. So, can you just fix this shit?"

Bonnie looked up at her perceptively, too perceptively for the vampire's taste, before asking, "Was it Elijah's witch that did this to you?" At the terse nod something clicked in her mind and she continued, "And she only helps Elijah, from what Ric got out of your rants, so he must have feelings for you."

The amused twinkle in her eyes made Damon want to snap her neck but the Bennett witch sat the book in her lap, opening it to the marked page and reading quickly. The vampire stepped away, leaning against the wall and watching tiredly. This was taking too long. Every time it seemed like something was going right, something might go right, it got ripped away. She was half-convinced the reversal spell would be ripped away too.

"I can manage it," Bonnie said slowly before looking up at the vampire. "It'll take a few days though, I need to find some of the things."

Damon couldn't bring herself to try and talk to the judgy little Bennett, turning and walking out of her house and slamming the door shut. She didn't look up from the path, feeling Elijah's compulsion tug her back towards the house before looking up and seeing Stefan and a car that definitely wasn't his red Porsche.

He gave her a tiny smile but she couldn't talk to him, not now. She thought she could understand why Elena had been so opposed to compulsion, unless it was helping her brother. The feeling of having control pulled away from you was terrible and Damon hated it more than she thought possible. She'd been top of the food chain until the Originals popped up. Sure, there were older vampires and stronger ones but no one could do this to her.

Stefan seemed to understand, calling out that he'd be at the Grill if she needed him before getting in the car, eyes sad. The older Salvatore turned the opposite direction, letting her feet carry her where they would as she tried to sort out all the swirling thoughts. Damon had been so hopeful that things were going to get better and had tried to ignore everything screaming that she couldn't trust him, not yet. Elijah was fucking dangerous and had never minded hurting her before.

Damon couldn't go home and couldn't go back to Elijah to ask him what the fuck he was thinking. She couldn't go to Ric because he was too damn perceptive and too caring. No matter how pissed he was at her he'd still fall into the role of worried best friend. She and Elena were definitely on the outs and that kind of eliminated everyone. Well, that eliminated everyone she didn't hate.

* * *

"Being a vampire can be lonely pet," Klaus warned, holding a blood bag as he looked at Kaia. Elijah hadn't been able to bring himself to talk to her, not yet, and was standing against the doorframe and just watching. "If you and Elijah end up drifting apart you could be alone for a long time."

The former witch gave him an 'I am aware' look before snatching the blood bag, looking at the red liquid with unnatural hunger and apprehension. She had no questions left for the Originals and they all knew there was nothing left but for her to make her choice. The room was silent for a few more minutes before she looked up, meeting Klaus' eyes briefly before looking at Elijah.

"I don't want to die," she said, repeating the words from when she had woken up but this time she sounded apologetic. Before he could say anything she had lifted the tube to her mouth and the red liquid was being pulled into her mouth.

* * *

I know it's not fixed yet. Shhhhh.

Reviews are like crack. I need more *nudge nudge* xD

~Klefan-Lover


	25. Plotting and Rings

**A/N:** I know I drew out this whole Kaia thing a little, I did it because Damon had turned her for Elijah but she knew if she killed her for good it wouldn't end well. Also, please don't worry about the Delijah stuff. I am dragging a little right now, my mind is kind of leaping from idea to idea a lot and with college starting my brain is a little taxed. I do have a rough plotline for the rest of the story and I have figured it out.

So, bear with the Kaia stuff, part of her role is to help annoy/persuade Elijah into talking to Damon with Klaus' and Stefan's help. I know you're probably sick of her at this point but she does have a purpose here, mainly getting a certain little Judgy witch to give a helping hand and yelling at an Original we all know and love. I know OC's can get annoying but I'm sorry, I need her for the plotline to work out.

* * *

"Just go talk to her!" Kaia snapped, glaring at her friend. "I'm not taking no for an answer."

Elijah sighed deeply, shaking his head as he pointed out, "I was not going to miss that look. I will talk to Damon when I'm ready, not before."

Klaus was watching them with amusement before commenting, "I like this one Elijah. She's feisty but more importantly, she's right. You need to talk to the Salvatore."

The newborn vampire shot him a look that was a mixture of shut up and thank you before turning back to the eldest, pointing out, "You promised you would. You do remember that right? I was dying at the time."

He glared, noticing her flinch but not attempting to make things right. That was a low blow and everyone in the room knew it. "Kaia, I will talk to her. First, let's get the spell reversed. I don't think I want to see Damon like that anymore."

"You're never going to be happy when you push everyone away," she pointed out softly, eyes softening. "I just want you to have a chance."

Elijah leant back in his chair, rubbing his forehead as part of him felt like a scolded child. Damon had lied to him for however long and helped dagger him once, not to mention the staking incident. All of that was meant to mean nothing now that Kaia had cast a spell. Admittedly, she hadn't known about all of that when she'd done it but it still made for a bad idea.

Klaus shifted slightly, probably planning on leaving, before muttering, "Damon wants to be with you. It's clear; she had the hurt painted all across her face when she said you made her forget how to get here."

"Forgive me Niklaus, but you've never been reliable in matters of the heart," Elijah retaliated, trying not to be harsh. "Didn't your current boyfriend originally date Rebekah?"

His brother frowned, sniping, "He never cared for her. Stefan was a cocky ripper, he liked having two Originals paying attention to him, but that's not the point. You need someone. She needs someone and you care for each other." At Elijah's incredulous look Klaus sheepishly admitted, "Stefan might have asked me to talk to you about it. He told me how to explain it but it's true."

Kaia's laugh interrupted the staring match between the two Original's and they looked at her as she giggled, "Elijah always said you couldn't talk about feelings without sounding like an idiot."

"That was a topic of conversation?" the hybrid asked incredulously, eyes surprised but amused.

"More of a passing mention," she corrected before turning back to the subject at hand. "But, idiot or not, Klaus is right. You should give Damon another chance."

"I need to get a ring made for you," Elijah interrupted, not in the mood for a lecture on all sides from the people he considered family. "I'll see if the Bennett witch will oblige, I already told the others not to come to the house." He glanced at Kaia apologetically, standing and straightening his already-neat jacket. "I know you couldn't live with hurting them but the hunger is strongest when you're young. Nik, could you stay with her?"

Klaus nodded, ignoring Kaia's protest that she'd be fine, and Elijah left the room, heading straight into Mystic Falls. Once the hybrid was content with the fact that his brother was out of hearing range he turned to the former witch, eyes playful but determined.

"Now, you seem to be an expert at meddling in my brother's love life," he started, noticing the way her green eyes widened in fear. "My Stefan is willing to help, and is more than willing to drag me into it. So, Miss Expert, where do we start?" At the grin that reminded him far too much of his teenage drama queen of a baby sister he knew immediately that he'd regret this but he'd do anything for family.

* * *

"I'm not doing this," Bonnie snapping, folding her arms as she glared darkly at the lapis lazuli ring Elijah was holding. "Last time I trusted you, you stopped us from killing Klaus."

The Original barely held in a growl, tired of trying to explain this to her, but settled for a terse, "He said he could give me back my family. If you had lost someone that important to you and thought you could get them back, wouldn't you?"

She nodded reluctantly, looking at the ring. He'd tried to explain all of it to her, excluding some more private details about Damon and the spell, and the Bennett witch had accepted it but she still refused to let him inside. Elijah couldn't blame her for mistrusting him but that didn't make it any less irritating.

"Did you at least reverse the spell on Damon?" he asked with a sigh, not sure what he really wanted her to say. He hadn't been thinking straight when he'd compelled her.

Bonnie answered, "No, I don't have the ingredients. Elijah, if I do this for you, you should know that I have the power to remove the spell on this ring at any time. If your vampire makes one mistake I'll do it and let her burn."

The Original nodded, offering her the ring again and feeling a surge of relief when she snatched it, stalking inside. She was going to do it. Kaia wouldn't have to suffer because of one of his mistakes, of which there were many. He could hear her chanting and waited patiently, knowing that rushing witches never ended well.

"You can have this ring tonight," she told him, walking back to the door and being careful to stay inside the barrier. "I want to meet Kaia first. I need to know she can be trusted."

Elijah nodded, eyes dark, before turning and walking away. He should have realised there'd be some sort of condition. Bonnie turned back to the house, clutching the spelled ring in her hand tightly as she walked to the table where the grimoire Damon had given her was sitting. Kaia was the name of Elijah's witch who had cast the spell on the vampire. Bonnie couldn't bring herself to reverse the spell without knowing if she would accept it first. It wasn't her place.

* * *

~Klefan-Lover


	26. Surprises and Plans

**A/N:** I know a secret, I know a secret. Of course I do, I wrote the chapter ;D Anyway, here's the latest instalment in a story that really is meant to be Delijah. I swear that's what I'm heading towards, I just suck at the whole talking about feelings thing so by extension my characters tend to as well. Also, I'm not too pleased with the beginning of this chapter. Opinions?

**Disclaimer: **I only own Kaia and the strange twist this plotline has taken. Elijah, Klaus, Stefan, Bonnie and Damon all belong to CW and Julie Plec (who I am not pleased with).

* * *

Bonnie hadn't been completely truthful with the two vampires earlier in the day. She had everything she needed for the spell but was adamant that she wouldn't reverse the spell unless she knew for sure the witch who cast it was okay with it.

It didn't take long after the sun set for Elijah to turn up, a green-eyed woman next to him. She was jumpy and looked uncomfortable and Bonnie instantly knew, even without using her witch senses, that she was a vampire. One glance at the Original's face proved it and the witch let out a sigh.

"You're Kaia," Bonnie said softly, one hand in her pocket where she'd stuck the ring.

The newborn vampire nodded, asking, "Do you have my ring? I need it." Indecision was written across the darker witch's face and Kaia tried to calm her voice, pleading, "I need to be in the sun. Please. I've lived too long with it to lose it now."

"You don't feel it, do you?" Bonnie questioned, already knowing the answer but needing to ask. At the slight head shake the younger pulled out the ring with the twin stones and held it out. "Take it. I need to talk to you. Alone."

Kaia took the ring and slipped it on quickly, a surprised smile lighting her face before she looked up at Elijah and nodded. The Original sighed before pressing a kiss on her head and walking away from the house, glancing back once before vanishing into the darkening street. A tense silence permeated the air until Bonnie met the former witch's eyes determinedly.

"If you could, would you reverse the spell you put on Damon?" the Bennet witch asked, needing to know if the spelled vampire had been telling the truth.

"I would have done it myself but Kol attacked me," Kaia sighed, looking at the younger sadly. "It's not meant to be this way."

Bonnie sighed before stepping to the side, muttering, "Come inside. I'll need your help getting this to work."

* * *

Damon didn't want to think about how she had ended up here. It was comfortable and smelt good and she didn't want to move, even if it was Elijah's bed. She'd been stalking around the town, annoyed about pretty much everything, and had somehow ended up at the seemingly-abandoned Mikaelson manor. She had never set foot in her favourite Original's room before but had still ended up in his room, flopped on the bed and staring at the ceiling.

She was so tired suddenly. It wasn't the normal tiredness she felt, even with all the things that had happened over the past few weeks. An involuntary yawn escaped her lips and cerulean blue eyes fluttered shut as the strong wave of tiredness hit her hard, forcing her to sleep despite the fact ten minutes ago she was wide awake.

At the Bennet house Bonnie had just started the spell after Kaia had taught her how to create the potion properly. It was lucky for them that it didn't have to be administered and Bonnie silently thanked God that this was going to be over soon. Her voice was strong as she neared the end of the chant, hoping it would work, and back in Mikaelson manor the spell started to take effect.

No one was there to see the shimmering haze cover Damon, magic coiling around the vampire's unconscious body and spiralling into her to reverse what had been done. By the time the spell had done its work the same vampire that had attacked Vicki, that compelled Caroline and that befriended Alaric was lying on the bed, the sleep slowly dissipating as the magic lifted.

The same strange feeling permeated the mind as the morning Damon had woken up as a woman. The vampire groaned, lifting a hand to run through his hair and when his fingers touched the black locks he realised what was wrong. It was shorter than he'd gotten used to over the past couple of weeks, shorter and slightly coarser. In seconds he was out of Elijah's room and in the bathroom he'd passed, looking in the mirror with wide eyes.

"That judgy little witch did it," he breathed, grinning as his reflection confirmed his suspicions. "Thank fuck."

Damon hesitated before bolting down the hall, trying to find a room with clothes that might fit him. He wasn't going back home wearing vampire Barbie's clothes now he was back to normal. Eventually he reluctantly settled for grabbing some from what smelt like psycho Kol's room, quickly throwing them on before grabbing his jacket and bolting back towards his house. First he'd tell Stefan and then he was going to drag Ric into having a few drinks. He should probably thank judgy too but that could wait until tomorrow.

It didn't take long for him to reach his house and Damon burst inside, heading straight to the sound of pen scratching against paper. He hadn't expected to find Klaus and Stefan talking while the hybrid sketched but he didn't mind. The Original would find out sooner or later and then he could pass along the message to Elijah. That thought sent a twinge of regret through him for a second before the vampire stubbornly shrugged it off, striding into the room and grinning at Stefan.

"Damon?" Stefan asked in shock, looking at him disbelievingly.

"Little witchy pulled it off," he explained with his trademark smirk, laughing in surprise as he suddenly found himself with an armful of little brother. "Calm down Stef. She was always bound to come around."

Klaus asked softly, "Does Elijah know?"

Stefan froze at the question, pulling back and looking at Damon seriously. The older was silently glad for that, still not completely comfortable with hugging his brother, but was even less comfortable with the looks from the happy couple. No, Elijah didn't know yet. He'd come straight to tell his brother, was that so bad?

"I came here first," he shrugged, stepping away from Stefan's clingy embrace. "I didn't know where he was and I wanted to tell my brother. You going to yell at me for that?"

The hybrid shook his head, shooting his boyfriend an apologetic look before sighing, "I should go find him. He won't take this well."

And right according to plan, Klaus was running off to help his big brother. In some ways all siblings were predictable, especially the Mikaelson clan. They all loved each other in their own ways, no matter how hidden or twisted it was. The hybrid gave Stefan a kiss on the cheek before nodding at Damon and walking out, leaving the brothers alone.

"So, now that we've done the whole bonding bit can I convince you to come with me and Ric for drinks?" Damon asked with a grin, resting a hand on his brother's shoulder.

* * *

"Elijah, the spell's been reversed," Klaus sighed, walking through the emptying streets as he explained the situation to his brother. He was lucky the elder had had his phone turned on or he never would've gotten the news to him. "The Bennet witch must have finally agreed."

There was a pause, full of static on the line before a heavy sigh met his ears and Elijah muttered, "I always knew Damon would turn back. He hated that spell."

Klaus kept moving through the town, trying to spot his brother as he promised, "It wasn't because of you. He just wanted to be himself again. I doubt my referring to him as 'little sister' helped."

"You didn't, did you?" Elijah asked, another sigh echoing from one phone to the other. "If he attacked you it wouldn't even surprise me."

"You're stalling," the hybrid pointed out. "What are you going to do about all this? I'm not dumb enough to know you didn't love her. Him. Whatever."

This time the silence was so long Klaus was almost sure his brother had hung up before Elijah said quietly, "I do not wish to speak of this right now. You've never been good with emotions."

Klaus didn't bother arguing, letting his brother hand up without a word of complaint. He never had been good with emotions, it was a fact. If it wasn't for Stefan he'd still probably have no grasp on anything but anger. The hybrid slid his phone into his pocket, ducking into the Grill and looking for his sister's distinctive blonde hair. If Elijah would listen to anyone in the family, it would be their baby sister.

* * *

See, Klaus and Kaia and their matchmaking plans are working.

I know a lot of you liked girl!Damon as it made the story unique but I wanted to change him back so Elijah and Damon could work through anything and they'd both know it wasn't because of the spell, see? I have a plan

~Klefan-Lover


	27. Love Notes and Pains

**A/N:** Rebekah is a meddler ;D Also, I'm sorry this sucks and is rather short. I'm just so tired lately

**Disclaimer: **I only own Kaia and the strange twist this plotline has taken. Elijah, Klaus, Stefan, Bonnie and Damon all belong to CW and Julie Plec (who I am not pleased with).

* * *

"I'm still not speaking to you," she sniped, giving her brother an icy glare before she turned away from him stubbornly.

Klaus sighed heavily, leaning against the bar as he tried to get his tongue around the words he really didn't want to say. It wasn't his fault Stefan had chosen him over his extremely bratty sister. Maybe he had been in the wrong in Chicago but Stefan had never exactly wanted him to stop. Honestly, it really wasn't his fault that the youngest Salvatore was bisexual and used to be a bit of a whore.

"I'm sorry love," the hybrid sighed, internally cursing Elijah for getting into this mess. Rebekah was going to hold this over his head for years. "I never planned to steal Stefan from you. He chose me all on his own. I went to his place to pick a fight and things escalated in a different way. I'm sorry sister, I really am."

Rebekah looked at him darkly before asking, "What do you want Nik? You'd never apologize if you didn't want something."

"I need you to help me," Klaus explained quickly, hoping his sister's tolerant mood would last long enough to get the whole story out. "Elijah needs your help."

The youngest Mikaelson let out an irritated sigh, finishing her drink before snapping, "Spit it out, Nik. What happened?"

The older knew full well that his brother was going to kill him for telling her this but admitted, "I think he fell in love, with Damon Salvatore of all people."

"Then he really does need help."

"Don't be cruel Bekah."

* * *

"You should talk to Elijah," Stefan protested yet again as Damon drove them towards his best friend's apartment and older tried to ignore the little voice in the back of his mind that agreed. "You can't throw away what you had."

"What we had was a semi-abusive mock-up of a relationship that only existed because of a spell," Damon snapped, hating the twinge as he said it. It was true, in a way, but saying it hurt. "We are never getting back together because we never had anything."

The younger scowled stubbornly, reaching out and grabbing his brother's arm in a tight grip as he spat, "Don't lie to me. There was something there and I know it."

"Oh yes, because you have brilliant senses when it comes to love. How much fighting did it take for you and Klaus to realise you wanted to bone each other?" the black-haired male threw back, shaking his arm roughly and glaring at his brother outright. "I can handle this myself."

The silence between the brothers was tense and almost-pained for a few minutes before Damon swerved to the side of the road, biting out, "I'm not really in the mood for drinks now. I need to think some things through."

"Fine. Just get home," Stefan growled out, opening his door roughly and slipping from the car. "Don't pick a fight with Elijah either."

Damon waved mockingly before peeling off the second the door to his beloved Camaro was closed with no thought in mind but leaving. The damn spell being reversed was meant to make things easier and it was all meant to make sense again. He felt the same as he did before the little trick by Elijah's witchy friend but at the same time something was wrong. Something hurt, a pain that hadn't been there before.

"Fucking hell," the vampire groaned in annoyance, realising quickly what it was. He missed Elijah and it hurt.

* * *

"How come Klaus knew about your little crush on Damon and I didn't?" Rebekah asked her older brother, falling into step next to him with a teasing tone. "Is there some sort of 'I banged a Salvatore' club you and Nik are members of?"

"We both know full well that you would be part of that club, especially considering you slept with Stefan long before Klaus did," he replied fluidly, not surprised by her appearance. Klaus was always bound to rope her into this.

His baby sister shrugged lightly, catching his wrist and tugging him to a stop. The elder sighed but didn't fight, looking down at her tiredly. He just wanted to be alone and think, not have this discussion with his sister. Everything was going to go back to how they were, all hate and tension and stabbing, not what he could have had.

"I think you need to talk to him, even if I don't really trust him," Rebekah insisted, eyes warmer than she normally let people see. She was worried about him and that made him smile slightly. "Personally I think you can do better but if you want him than you better go after him or I will start writing love notes to pass on with your signature again. We all know how well that went with Tatia."

Elijah sighed deeply, muttering, "Don't start that again. You are not allowed to play matchmaker anymore Bekah."

"I don't remember needing permission, Lijah," she retaliated, rolling her eyes. "You've been alone for a thousand years. He makes you smile. I think I'll meddle as much as I damn well want."

He closed his eyes, silently relieved that at least Rebekah was a lot blunter than Klaus when it came to love. She'd always been the one who believed in it, far more than any of the boys ever had, and she was stubborn. If his little sister thought he could have a semblance of a relationship she'd make it happen, even if she had to tie him and Damon together to manage it.

"Fine Bekah. Where do you want to start?"

* * *

I'm still sorry about how short this is. College is so exhausting, especially with 2 pre-uni courses -_-

~Klefan-Lover


	28. Plots and Meetings

**A/N:** I cut this off a bit because I have no idea how to write the getting along/forgiveness bit without rushing D:

**Disclaimer: **If I owned the show so many characters would be alive and Elena? Yeah, she'd be dead

* * *

"You wrote me a script?" Elijah asked, arching an elegant eyebrow at his sister as she held out the paper for him. At her stubborn nod he took them with a sigh, deducing, "And I follow the instructions to get Damon here so we can talk."

Rebekah gave him a smug smile before warning, "Don't start throwing accusations. I know you haven't dated since Tatia but that really is not the way this will work. Be nice, okay Lijah? Can you manage that?"

"Is it possible for you to be more condescending?" he sighed, pulling out his phone and scrolling through the list of numbers.

"Is it possible for you to be more inept in relationships?" she shot back, tapping the sheaf of papers in his hand for emphasis before walking towards the other side of the room. "And don't make me regret helping you! I spent an hour on that."

Elijah sighed again, hitting the dial icon on his phone and waiting for Damon to answer. The wait seemed longer than it probably was and the Original felt the urge to pace, to do something besides just sitting there as the younger vampire deliberated whether he was going to answer. Just before the call timed out he answered.

"Yes, Elijah? Something you want?" Damon asked, voice composed but lacking its usual snark. The fact the Original knew that made him decide they spent too much time together

Brown eyes flicked over the page Rebekah had given him before Elijah groaned in annoyance, crumpling it in a fist and admitting, "Bekah tried to help me find a way to get you to talk to me. Do you know how terrible her writing is? It was completely ridiculous. I would never sound like that, I really wouldn't."

A short burst of laughter caught his ears before Damon muttered, "Yeah, maybe she's trying to give you the hint to lighten up. So, now that we've talked, I have things to do."

"I need to talk to you properly," the older protested, hoping that even if the Salvatore said no Rebekah would give him points for trying and get off his back. "We need to talk about a lot of things."

"Well, I don't really agree. I got cursed by your little witch, you thought I was hot, things happened," he sniped, something hovering behind his words. "I think that pretty much sums it up."

Elijah kept his voice level, softly pointing out, "I thought you cared for me. That is what you said in the clearing."

The silence was tense, almost deafening, before Damon reluctantly admitted, "I do. I just don't trust you. For one thing, you compelled me and Rebekah is listening to this whole conversation to gather blackmail and just heard me sound like a total girl, didn't she?"

The sudden change in conversation made the eldest Original roll his eyes before he looked over to his sister who was trying not to grin. That was definitely a yes to Damon's question. Apparently the soft sigh was answer enough for the younger vampire.

"I'm definitely not talking to you with her waving cue cards," he half-mocked. "Meet me at the Grill tomorrow night and don't get jealous if I'm with Ric. Aim for 8, our conversation might take a few hours."

Elijah didn't have a chance to protest before Damon hung up, leaving the Original staring at his phone is dismay and disbelief. This was never going to end well and he knew it.

"I thought that could have gone worse."

"Thank you, Rebekah, for making me feel so much better."

* * *

"Did you just drag me into your date with Elijah?" Ric asked tiredly, looking at his pacing friend sadly. He really hated seeing Damon like this but that didn't mean he wanted to get used as a buffer or an excuse not to talk.

"I just need someone to make sure I'm not pissed before he gets there," he retaliated, downing the glass of bourbon in his hand. "If I'm drunk it won't be a brilliant conversation."

The history teacher sighed, rubbing his forehead before realising something. "You never said it wasn't a date."

"I thought that went without saying!" the vampire protested quickly, slumping into the nearest seat as he reached for the bottle of bourbon. "No spell, no more Elijah love."

Ric rolled his eyes, mocking half-seriously, "Please don't do what my sister did and make me comment on your outfit."

Damon scowled darkly, grinding out, "It. Is. Not. A. Date." Before his best friend could argue he shoved the bottle in his hand and stalked to the kitchen, fully intent on breaking all of Ric's mugs as he made coffee.

"If you break my fucking mugs again you're paying for them!"

And that was one of the problems with having friends. After a while they could start reading your mind. With an annoyed huff the elder started making coffee, resolving to still break at least one of the mugs. It may have been petty and childish but it was better than snapping Ric's neck.

"You still need better mugs," Damon shrugged, letting one fall to the floor and almost laughing at the string of curses from the living room. "Whoops."

His best friend stalked into the kitchen area and started complaining about 'destructive tendencies' and 'not needing to be a total dick' and the world was definitely back on its axis.

* * *

"I think it worked," the blonde Original announced into her phone, glad her brother had left the house to get more blood. "Nik, they're meeting tomorrow night. I did what you wanted."

She could almost imagine her half-brother's grin as he replied, "Thank you, Bekah. I guess I owe you one."

"You owe me far more than that," Rebekah ground out before hanging up her phone, heading back to the monstrosity of a house her idiot brother had abandoned.

Klaus hung up his phone, smug smile firmly in place, between turning to Stefan and explaining, "Kaia's little plan just might work after all."

The younger let out a sigh, muttering, "I hope so. I really would hate to think I got into a fight with Damon just to see this whole chaotic plan fail."

"I wouldn't have asked you to fight if I didn't think this would work," the hybrid promised, giving Stefan's had a squeeze. "Everything will be better once they start getting along."

"You're only doing this for Elijah. I keep forgetting how much you care about him," Stefan admitted, looking down at their linked hands as the plan Kaia had started slowly fell into place.

Klaus chuckled, replying, "You're doing this for Damon. I care about my brother as much as you care about yours, love."

"They really don't have any choice in this whole thing, do they?" the vampire chuckled, rolling his eyes at Nik's smug grin and head shake. "Once they're done obsessing over each other, they're going to murder us."

"Oh pet, we're going to blow town long before then. I'm not risking you getting murdered because of my brother's wrath."

* * *

"Damon, are you sure there aren't lasting side effects from that spell?" Ric asked suspiciously, folding his arm as he watched his best friend fiddle with his sleeve. Despite the fact he'd spent all of the past day protesting it wasn't a date he was still fussing a little too much over his clothes.

The vampire looked at him in confusion, shaking his head stubbornly as he grabbed his jacket. "None that I've noticed. Why?"

The history teacher nods, amused, and mocks, "You always dressed nicely when you knew you'd be seeing Elijah. Then again, a new shirt is a bit over the top, even for you."

The dark glare that met his comment made Ric chuckle as he and his friend headed downstairs to the car. If he was going to get dragged off to be an excuse to bail on some date then he was going to piss the vampire off as much as he damn well could. By the time they reached the Grill Damon was just about ready to beat his friend up and bolted out of the car, storming into the building. Ric followed, feeling that his day was already getting much better.

By the time Elijah arrived at the restaurant, impeccable as always, Ric had revised his original decision that his day was getting better. If he didn't know his friends penchant for lying to hide any and all emotions he would have honestly believed his only purpose was to stop Damon from getting drunk.

"Give me that damn bottle. Your boyfriend's here," the history teacher hissed, prying the bourbon from cold fingers with an annoyed scowl. "Go screw him or something, just go."

The youngest vampire scoffed, getting up with a slight stumble from the dozens of glasses of alcohol he'd downed in half an hour before turning to see the Original waiting near the door. Elijah's brown eyes were composed but the slightest hint of what looked like jealously lingered behind his calm gaze. A snort escaped the younger as he weaved through the crowd, knowing full well the other would have heard it.

"I said one thing," Damon drawled, casually crossing his arms as something akin to butterflies started in his stomach. "'Don't get jealous'. Is that such a difficult request?"

A hand wrapped around his upper arm, firm but gentle, before Elijah muttered, "The pot calling the kettle black. Come, this isn't the best place for a conversation."

Neither of them noticed their younger brother's secreted away in the corner of Mystic Fall's most popular restaurant or the less-than-subtle mock-salute Klaus sent the history teacher at the bar. Neither of them were exactly expecting everyone in the town to be in on the plot.

* * *

~Klefan-Lover


	29. Bonding, Sort Of

**A/N: **Just to make this work, they don't know that killing an Original kills every vampire in its bloodline.

And no, I have not killed any of them. Just for future reference.

Also, I am terribly sorry about how slow my updates have been. I feel like shit but I barely have time to do my college work, let alone fanfiction. I really am sorry.

* * *

"Oh yes, please, help yourself to my very expensive Scotch!" Damon snapped as he trudged down the stairs into his sitting room, eyes immediately landing on the teenager staring into the fire. A minute longer and he sighed, sitting next to the boy with a muttered question. "What is it?"

"Elena." The one-word answer made everything make sense. Jeremy's hunched shoulders were full of tension as he moved his eyes to the untouched glass in his hand, muttering, "I just came for a drink. I know you don't do the big brother thing."

The silence was tense and uncomfortable and Damon was tired of uncomfortable silences. One was enough for a day. "You know, your sister is a complete bitch. So is my brother. You can't dwell on the fact your sibling pisses you off. I did and it drove me insane for most of my life. Then I decided it wasn't my job to make Stefan stop whining. Maybe it's not your job to make Elena stop whoring around."

The silence was even more strained for a second before Jeremy laughed, bitter and slightly choked. Damon wasn't expecting that and felt slightly relaxed before a fist crashed into his jaw, knocking the unexpecting vampire off the couch and onto the hard wooden floor. It was a shock but at the same time that was exactly what he was hoping for. Anger. Little Gilbert seemed to think better when he was angry, or things made sense to him more. Damon wasn't sure how that went but either way a bit of anger was good right now.

"She's not a whore, she's not," Jeremy snapped, voice slightly less than convicted. "You don't know what you're talking about."

The vampire got back to his feet, wiping his mouth before replying rather gently, "It's the Petrova bloodline. Katherine, Tatia, Isobel. It's a habit I think they can't break. Like I said, I'm not good at the big brother thing, but you need to realise what is going on."

Brown eyes finally met his and Damon sat next to the boy again, not saying anything else and just letting the teenager lean slightly against him. He wasn't tactful and he rarely said the right thing but maybe for once that wasn't a requirement. It seemed it was enough for the boy that he was just willing to put up with him.

"She's my sister," Jeremy said softly. "She's the only family I have left."

Damon sighed before standing and crossing to the alcohol cabinet to pour them both a drink. From the looks of things they were both going to need one. It was just going to be one of those nights.

* * *

"Are you sure you understand what you are agreeing to?"

Elena chewed her lip, unsure, but nodded and repeated, "They need me to do this. They don't realise what they're getting into."

Esther, sitting straight-backed and proper, looked at the young girl before warning, "There's no turning back from this. If you change your mind, it'll be too late."

"I have to do this," the doppelganger repeated, folding her arms with a stubborn glint in her eyes. "They don't understand what they're getting into Esther, they need someone to help them."

The ancient witch nodded, lifting the thick grimoire onto her lap without a second of hesitation. Now she had the willing help of the doppelgänger she could finally rid the world of the pestilence she had so foolishly created. Saving her children hadn't been worth the pain and suffering they had caused over the centuries. Even Elijah, her sweet noble boy, had spilled the blood of thousands in his quest to protect his family, to keep them together. Finn had turned his little trollop and she in turn had cursed many others to the same existence. None of it was meant to happen like that.

The frail pages crinkled as Esther flipped through them, looking for a spell that would work. She couldn't try and link them again but maybe there was another way this could work. Almost all of the spells in this book were archaic but just as effective as anything a modern witch would use. Many of them were even more powerful, tapping into magical sources that the younger generation couldn't even imagine and would never be able to control. The only magic as old as what she had was the blood of a cursed or blessed lineage. The blood of a doppelgänger was exactly the right thing to work as a catalyst.

"This might hurt," Esther said, the only warning before what felt like a knife was slicing into Elena's hand and crimson liquid was dripping onto the floor.

The doppelgänger couldn't protest as the witch's hand snapped out, dragging her bleeding limb forward so the catalyst could drip into the waiting bowl. The only other thing she needed was someone to use as a vessel for the magic. Her original plan to use the teacher, Alaric, had been ruined by her son's witch, so a new plan was needed. Luckily, there were plenty of people around that had more than enough hatred in their hearts for it to work.

"That is all I need from you, my dear," Esther informed the doppelgänger before standing and taking the bowl. "You will know when the spell has been completed. The effects will seem quite dramatic, if I'm honest."

Elena didn't get a chance to argue before the witch scooped up her grimoire and left the room, quickly sorting out her plan. There were still a lot of things she needed to work through but now she had enough of the magic-infused bloodline to hopefully make it work. If it didn't, then she'd just have to find a new plan.

Esther had been given plenty of time to work at this plan. For a thousand years she watched her children slaughter and maim innocents with no end to their bloodlust. She couldn't help but sincerely believe that she was alive again so she could end this plague upon the world. She was simply quite lucky this Gilbert girl was selfish and stupid enough to help. It actually rather disgusted the ancient witch that she was willing to kill people just to rope her Salvatore boys back. If it wasn't for the fact that she needed her blood she wouldn't associate herself with the teenager that reminded her far too much of Tatia. Petrova women were always so distasteful.

* * *

"You didn't have to let him stay the night," Stefan pointed out softly, glancing towards the hall in case the young Gilbert was awake. "I'm not saying you did bad, but it seems a bit strange."

Damon scowled slightly, jabbing his finger towards the stove, before continuing to riffle through the fridge as he muttered, "The kid needed it. Siblings can be real pains at times."

The younger bit back a sarcastic comment, continuing to cook breakfast. It was strange, how much of the Damon he remembered from being human he could see since the spell. Stefan wasn't really sure how he felt about it. Having the slightly sweeter side of his brother back on display was nice but at the same time it worried him. People could hurt him a lot easier now that he cared.

"I know what you're thinking," Damon chided, rolling his eyes. "Stop it. Just get that food done so Jeremy can eat and get home before Elena actually notices he's gone. He's not staying here forever and that's just that."

Stefan snorted sarcastically, continuing to cook the younger Gilbert's breakfast without a word of complaint. That could be saved for once the human was back home and as safe as he could be in a town like this. Once he was gone, things could be taken care of without having to worry about Jeremy getting caught in the crossfire. It was always best to sort out their differences when the humans weren't around.

By the time Jeremy finally found his way to the small kitchen, Damon and Stefan were glaring at each other silently as the elder absentmindedly stirred a mug of blood-spiked coffee. It had almost become a competition before the teenager cleared his throat slightly, drawing attention to the fact that not only was he awake, he was in the room. In seconds the younger Salvatore's face had changed back to the usual stoic mask, only the smallest and most strained smile imaginable tugging at his lips. He tried too hard.

"Did something happen when I was asleep?" Jeremy ventured, taking the seat Stefan gestured to with a tired frown. "Or is this the regular morning glaring contest?"

Damon ground out, "I'm explaining you need to go back home, no matter how much Stefan wants to let you stay. He's always wanted a puppy, apparently Klaus doesn't fall into that category."

A plate was dumped in front of the teenager before he could say anything, Stefan retaliating, "Shut up Damon. He doesn't need to worry about this."

After a second during which Jeremy decided breakfast was definitely the most important thing in that moment, the brothers continued their ridiculous argument about something he had no idea about. It seemed that they thought it was important though so he listened, eating as he tried to figure out what they were on about. From what he could gather, it somehow connected to him. Then again, they were probably onto a whole new argument now. That just seemed to be the way things went when it came to the Salvatores.

By the time Jeremy finished his breakfast it seemed Stefan had lost the argument. Of course, it could be that he was just tired of fighting and left, which was a routine Jeremy endorsed quite often himself. Sometimes continuing the argument just wasn't worth it. Elena and her pointless grudges were proof enough of that. As Jeremy swallowed the last mouthful of his coffee a hand bunched in the back of his shirt, pulling him off the chair and depositing him on the floor.

"Come on Gilbert, time to get you back to your sister," Damon muttered, pushing the boy towards the door. "I'd prefer if she didn't stake me for kidnapping you."

* * *

~Klefan-Lover


	30. Lashing Out and Phone Calls

**A/N: **So this another short shitty chapter. I'm sorry. I can't find time to write very often.

* * *

Something felt wrong. For anyone else it would be all too easy to dismiss but after the life he'd had Damon had grudgingly learnt to trust his senses. It would be easier just to ignore them but the vampire focused on them. The drive itself had been fine but now something just seemed off. Maybe it was the fact he could practically hear Elena fuming and they were still next to the car.

"Okay Gilbert, let's get this over with. Don't forget to mention you just showed up at my house without warning," Damon lectured, catching the boy's arm and tugging him towards the pathway to the house roughly. "Maybe if she yells at me I'll have an excuse to knock myself out with alcohol and lose most of the day."

Jeremy followed, grumpily yanking his arm free of the vampire's grip as he retaliated, "You don't need an excuse, you'll just do it anyway."

Damon paused for a second, conceding, "Point taken," before continuing to quickly walk up to the house. This was just going to be one of those awful moments that he'd regret involving himself in later, he just knew it. Being yelled at by Elena was terrible at the best of times but things had been tense between them since the spell. She seemed to hate him for Kaia's little trick even if he had hated it even more than she had.

The door swung open before the vampire could touch it and he instinctively braced himself for an explosion of anger or a slap. Elena had no qualms about slapping him. Damon wasn't expecting to find himself with an armful of clinging person, brown flyaway hair blinding him for a second as she lunged forward. Frozen in surprise, he didn't respond until after she'd already pulled away, a pout pulling at her lips.

"What is it?" Elena asked, all sulky but playful, and something in Damon's brain snapped. This wasn't right.

He pushed Jeremy forward slightly, using him as a buffer, and replied coolly, "Jeremy stayed at my house last night. Stefan didn't want him wandering around at night. You should be more careful with him."

"What's wrong with you? I thought you'd be happy Bonnie fixed the spell," Elena ground out, folding her arms and ignoring her brother. Luckily for him.

Her eyes narrowed as Damon stepped back further, unimpressed by the sudden affection from the doppelganger. She barely spoke to him for weeks unless it was a Scooby matter, as he'd dubbed them, and when she had it had been emotionless or upset. It was almost like she thought she was suffering more than he had been.

"I'm happy," he replied tersely, preparing to leave. "I just don't need you to stay that way."

Her choked squeal of rage brought out the next bitter comment in him, leading to the vampire calling over his shoulder as he walked away. "Anyway, I'm pretty sure Elijah's better in bed. If Katherine's anything to go by, you wouldn't be that good."

Damon couldn't help but smirk as he got into the Camaro and drove away, the over-dramatic screeching of the latest Petrova doppelganger following him down the street. Hopefully that didn't come back to bite him in the ass. It seemed worth it at the time and even if it ended badly, knocking her down a peg made his day a little brighter.

* * *

"What did you say to Elena?" Stefan asked, voice tired as he continued, "She yelled to me for an hour and Klaus was seconds away from killing her."

Damon chuckled, answering innocently, "I don't know what you're talking about Stefan. I just told her to keep a better eye on Jeremy."

Stefan 'hmmed' before adding, "And apparently said she'd be no good in bed."

A laugh spilled from his throat as Damon admitted, "I might've said something." The grin pulling at his lips wouldn't go away as he continued to steer with one hand, not quite sure where he was going but not really wanting to stop.

"Damon, you can't keep doing this. You know what she's like and you know that she hates the fact that you and Elijah are together," the younger sighed, ignoring the laughter from his boyfriend as the conversation reached his ears. "She's not happy with either of us."

"And that's not my problem anymore and Elijah and I are not together," Damon pointed out, slowing the car as he leant his head back, tired of Elena still being so important to his brother. "It's not yours either, brother. You have your wolf-boy and you seem happier than you were with the doppelgänger so why worry? She'll just have to get over it."

Stefan covered the mouthpiece of the phone for a second as he heard Klaus yelling, "Elijah thinks he still has a chance!" before rolling his eyes and muttering into the phone, "Ignore him. The point is that you need to be more careful. She has been taking lessons from Ric."

"And even a baby vampire like Carolline could still snap her like a twig," he retaliated, rolling his eyes in annoyance. "I'm not going to be scared of her because of anything. Goodbye Stefan."

Before the younger vampire could try to make his brother see sense the dial tone reached his ears, an exasperated groan echoing against it. This was impossible. Nothing would convince Damon there was a threat around until a stake was sticking out of his chest. With a tired sigh the vampire headed downstairs, finding his boyfriend sitting with his brother in the lounge room.

"That could have gone far better," Elijah mused, face unsurprised but slightly insulted. "Obviously our conversation did not go as well as I'd hoped."

Klaus scoffed, asking sarcastically, "You think? He flat-out insisted you two weren't anything, brother. You have no idea what you're doing."

Stefan barely resisted the urge to whack both of them around the head as the two started to argue as only brothers could. This seemed to be nothing more than a waste of time as the two of them collapsed into a bitter and useless argument that seemed to lead back to something to do with the Petrova women. Sinking into the armchair across from them tiredly he watched and waited for the two of them to stop. There was more important things to worry about than who had slept with Tatia first or who Katherine had liked more.

* * *

~Klefan-Lover


	31. Family Problems

**A/N: **I can't focus lately and I have forgotten the plot so please bear with me guys. Please.

* * *

"I don't know what we're going to do about Mother."

It was the first civil words to escape the younger Mikaelson since Stefan had given up on them and muttered something about reading. It wasn't a surprising outcome to be honest. No matter how mature Elijah tried to be, his brother would always be able to get under his skin. It was just one of the talents of a family member.

Fingers interlaced under his chin, the elder sighed softly as he replied, "She has her plans. I am not sure where Finn has gone or Kol. Rebekah won't wish to be involved. It's too hard for her to accept that mother wishes to destroy us."

"It's just us then," Klaus muttered, resting his feet on the table as he leant back. "We need to do something about this. Your witch saved the teacher but plenty of people hate us. Her plan could use any of them."

"I don't think she could use just anyone. She'd need someone special, someone fractured," he mused, barely paying attention to his brother. "Alaric may have worked due to the damage to his mind from constant resurrections. The odds of anyone else being that damaged in this town, in this country, are astronomical brother."

Nodding slightly, the hybrid asked, off subject as always, "When did you start calling him Alaric? Should Damon be worried?"

"Niklaus. Kindly desist."

Even without looking, he could tell his brother was smirking as the retort rolled out smoothly. "Never, brother. Never."'

"Listen to me. Mother is still a danger. She will never stop being a danger to us unless we stop her and you know it," he muttered lowly, hating resorting to the idea Damon had suggested all those days ago. "We may have to do regrettable things brother. Things we would rather not do."

"I know Elijah. We need to stop her," Klaus agreed, voice resigned. "We have to kill her."

* * *

She was so close. Half the population of Mystic Falls was too dense to realise that the animal attacks were more than just that. The other half were a lot easier to work with. Some believed. Some wished they didn't. It would be easy enough to find someone who hated vampires. It would be harder to shatter their psyche sufficiently in a short time but she needed to hurry. Her children's love would only survive for so long after what she'd done.

Thin fingers flipped through the pages of research her son had acquired for her, eyes narrowed in thought. There were so many people Esther could choose from but not all of them could work. The Lockwood family was already out. Werewolf genes could mess up the spells and if that happened things would turn out even worse. They were too volatile either way. One wrong word and they'd snap. Werewolf venom wouldn't kill one of her children. It'd only make them mad.

Eyes closing in thought, she didn't hear the footsteps as he ascended the stairs. Everything was falling into place, she had no reason to be afraid. Esther thought she was hidden from her children, from anyone who would hurt her. Her hearing wasn't like that of vampire and she didn't even realise someone else was there as the man crossed the room, weapon grasped tightly in his hand as he stopped a few steps behind the couch, steeling his resolve.

A second later the jagged blade sliced through the skin of her back and slid cleanly between her ribs, only just grazing one of them. Her choking gasp grated against his ears as he finished pushing the knife in, knowing that it cut into the heart from his years of experience. He always hit his mark, he had to.

Pulling the weapon back, the male pushed the dying woman off the couch, turning with only a twinge of regret and leaving the room. Her plans were interfering with what he needed to do. Everything was going to work so much better with her gone.

* * *

"What do you want?" Damon muttered, readjusting his pillow so he couldn't see his brother. There was too much going on. It was wearing on his patience.

Stefan rolled his eyes, leaning against the doorframe as he replied, "Elijah left. You can come downstairs again if you want."

The older winced slightly at the comment, silently regretting coming in through the back door. It was childish and stupid but he hadn't wanted to see any of the Originals, let alone that one. Of course, now he was probably going to get mocked about it for the next few decades, if not centuries. It'd definitely be centuries if Klaus had his way.

"You can't avoid him forever," the younger pointed out after a minute of silence, cautiously moving further into the room and sitting on the edge of the bed. "Well, you probably could, but he'd never stop looking."

The normally strong and proud voice was nothing more than a bitter mutter as Damon pointed out, "I did go through the obsessive stage, remember? He'll get over it."

"Yes, because you slipped out of it so quickly," Stefan sniped, shoving his brother's leg. "You don't want him to stop looking. Everyone knows it. Why can't you just admit it?"

"Have you been spending time with Caroline? You sound like you have," he snapped, glaring at his brother as he straightened and tried to ignore the resounding desire to punch him. This wasn't how their sibling conversations were meant to go. "Stop giving me relationship advice."

"I'm the one in a relationship so I'm the one here who can give advice," the younger growled, shoving his brother's phone back into his hand before standing and starting to leave. "Elijah wants to talk to you. You should stop dumping your phone in random rooms; we can still hear it ring."

Watching his brother leave, Damon felt the temptation to throw the phone right at his head but sighed, dropping it next to him and just staring at the screen for a minute. He should call him. He should try and be nice. That just wasn't something he could do.

* * *

~Klefan-Lover


End file.
